Newborn is first in Western U.S. to undergo bloodless open-heart surgery

[Shawnster]

Physicians at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford have performed open-heart surgery without a blood transfusion for the smallest infant ever to undergo such a procedure in North America.

 

The surgery, on October 31, was done in a 10-day-old baby girl born in Hemet, California with a serious congenital heart defect. Meticulous planning and execution of the surgery, an arterial switch procedure, allowed the medical team to surmount daunting technical challenges of treating a 7-pound open-heart patient without giving blood. It is the first bloodless open-heart surgery performed in an infant in the Western United States.

 

“They said she would definitely need heart surgery, and most likely a blood transfusion, to correct the problem,” said Felisa. “We were happy there was a solution, but when they said ‘transfusion,’ my heart dropped.” The Garcia family are Jehovah’s Witnesses; they requested that Lola’s surgery be done without a blood transfusion because of their religious beliefs.

 

https://www.stanfordchildrens.org/en/about/news/releases/2018/newborn-girl-bloodless-open-heart-surgery

 

Article dated 2018.

[Hope]

Yes - this article is from last February... surgery was in October 2017.

 

Still an incredible situation! ❤️