Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital leads the way
The surgical team was led by Drs who included Dr Slobodan Micovic and Dr Itumeleng Taunyane.
Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital paved the way with the first minimally invasive sutureless aortic valve replacement in Africa on July 27.
The Gauteng Department of Health head of communication, Motalatale Modiba, said the major achievement was made possible by the hospital’s cardiothoracic department and Wits University Medical School, in partnership with Vertice Medtech Group.
“Sutureless or rapid deployment valves in the setting of aortic valve replacement is an emerging surgical procedure using the transcatheter valve technology. It shortens operation time, morbidity and length of hospital stay and the patient was fully awake within six hours of the procedure,” said Modiba.
The surgical team was led by the visiting expert, Dr Slobodan Micovic, an associate professor of surgery at the University of Belgrade Medical School in Serbia; and locally by Dr Itumeleng Taunyane, head of Clinical Unit and lead surgeon (minimally invasive cardiac surgery): and Dr Bongani Ngutshane, consultant cardiothoracic surgeon.
Modiba added that the surgical team spent the whole day in the theatre working on the two groundbreaking cases. “One of the beneficiaries of this procedure is a 64-year-old male who was initially considered for transcatheter aortic valve implantation (Tavi), but instead, the possibility of rapid deployment valve was discussed with him and he gladly accepted.”
The procedure mitigates costs and expands the scope of care for patients who are also considered but do not fully meet the criteria for Tavi. It is done at a fraction of the time of a conventional cardiopulmonary bypass aortic valve replacement procedure.
Currently, the hospital is doing Tavi for high-risk patients through percutaneous techniques making it the only state hospital outside of the Western Cape to offer this therapy.
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