Montreal, September 21th, 2006 The Sainte-Justine University Hospital Center and the Montreal Heart Institute (MHI) proudly announce the achievement of a world first in the treatment of a young pediatric patient's coronary arteries. Marie-Jeanne, an 11 years old, who suffers from severe heart problems as a result of Kawasaki disease, became the first child in the world to have benefited from a new technology, called the CROSSER, which is used to treat patients with completely blocked coronary arteries.
This heart catheterization procedure was successfully completed at the Montreal Heart Institute last June 16th by Dr. Rda Ibrahim, Interventional Cardiologist at the MHI and Dr. Nagib Dahdah, Interventional Cardiologist at the Sainte-Justine UHC, with the collaboration of Dr. Louis Cannon from the Heart and Vascular Institute in Michigan. Their expertise made it possible to use the CROSSER technology successfully on a child for the very first time.
"I am obviously very satisfied with the success of this procedure, which has allowed Marie-Jeanne to become healthy again and to carry on with a normal life. We regularly undertake complex coronary procedures at the MHI, but this case was particularly difficult since the patient's artery was completely blocked. Furthermore, it was located in a critical area of the heart, namely the left main coronary", Dr. Rba Ibrahim said.
"I am very happy with the results that were achieved thanks to this device. I am already planning on using this new technology in the treatment of three other patients of mine. We have made tremendous progress in the area of pediatric cardiology, particularly in the treatment of Kawasaki disease", Dr. Nagib Dahdah explained.
Last March, Dr. Nagib Dahdah, who had diagnosed a complete obstruction of his young patient Marie-Jeanne's left coronary artery, sought an alternate solution to double bypass surgery, a procedure her condition initially warranted. After read
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Contact: Sophie Langlois
sophie.langlois@umontreal.ca
514-343-7704
University of Montreal
21-Sep-2006