Royal Hospital succeeds in removing bacterial clot from patient’s heart

Royal Hospital performs Hi-tech Operation to Remove bacterial clot from patient’s heart

Muscat: A specialized medical team at the National Center for Cardiac Medicine and Surgery (National Heart Centre) at the Royal Hospital conducted  the first operation of its kind in the Sultanate of Oman to remove a bacterial clot from a patient’s heart through a catheterization, using the AngioVac device.

Dr. Hatim Ali Al Lawati, Senior Consultant in Interventional and Structural Cardiology at the National Heart, Royal Hospital, Head of the operating Team, said that the morbid condition began with an infection in the blood caused by the dialysis catheter and developed into a bacterial mass that continued to grow inside the heart despite being treated with antibiotics. The infection spread to the tricuspid valve between right atrium and the right ventricle, he added.

He explained that the AngioVac device consisted of a specialized endoscopic suction tube that was connected to an intravenous circuit outside the body to remove impurities from the blood and re-pump it back into the patient’s central circulation system.

He stressed that the medical team spared the patient the need to undergo surgical intervention, besides reducing the period of antibiotic treatment and eliminating the main source of infection.

The operation was successful and the patient’s condition is stable. Dr. Alaa bin Hassan Al Lawati, senior consultant and head of the cardiac surgery department at the center, Dr. Kamla bint Khalifa Al Wahaibiy, consultant cardiologist and head of the cardiac laboratory for interventional imaging, and Dr. Ishaq Al Ameri, senior consultant and head of the anesthesia department at the center, participated in the procedure.

A number of medical and technical staff also participated in the operation, including Salem Al-Muqbali, interventional catheterization laboratory technician, Maria Al-Balushi from the cardiac perfusion staff, and the nursing staff Ahlam Al-Balushi, Ahmed Al-Busaidi and Jamal Al-Muharbi. It is noteworthy that the National Center for Cardiac Diseases and Surgery is one of the first centers in the region to provide this type of advanced catheter treatment, and it represents a qualitative and unique leap in the treatment of such cases, which are difficult to treat with usual surgical methods.