On 31 May, renowned paediatric cardiac surgeons from Europe and the USA will participate in a training session that will further increase their already impressive skill in treating their patients. The international workshops are organised by Prof. Janusz Skalski and Prof. Tomasz Mroczek from the Children’s University Hospital of Cracow in collaboration with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

‘I’m tremendously happy that the level of cardiac surgery in our hospital is so high that it attracts the attention of world-class specialists from around the globe. For us, this is both a sign of recognition and inspiration for further improvement’, said Prof. Krzysztof Fyderek, the hospital’s director.

The Kraków hospital performs about 450 heart surgeries per year. In the last few weeks, the surgeons started employing new treatment methods: aortic translocation (Nikaidoh procedure) and the first European aortic reconstruction with 3D-printed tissue-engineered material.

The Nikaidoh procedure is dedicated to rare congenital heart defects. It ‘involves moving the aortic root with the attached coronary arteries to the pulmonary position’ to ‘provide a true “anatomic correction” for transposition of the great arteries’. It is one of the most complex procedures to have been invented, performed only in several health care centres around the world.

‘During the surgery, part of the heart along with the aorta is cut from the right chamber and transplanted to the left chamber, from which blood should normally flow out. At the same time, we reshape the ventricular septal defect, close it, transplant coronary vessels and implant a new pulmonary artery together with a valve. It’s a very complex procedure performed on the most vulnerable part of the heart which restores it nearly fully to its natural, desired structure’, explained Prof. Tomasz Mroczek, deputy head of the hospital’s Department of Cardiac Surgery.

Thanks to the Nikaidoh procedure, surgeons have been able to save the life of a 16-month-old boy, who was transferred to the Children’s University Hospital shortly after his birth. In the first days of his life, he went through a preliminary surgery which gave the doctors time to prepare him for the proper one.

The second impressive feat performed at the hospital was the first European procedure of aortic reconstruction using a novel 3D printer material. The aortic arch was produced from fragments of bovine pericardium devoid of any genetic material so as to prevent the patient’s organism from recognising it as alien. The material was chemically consolidated in order to be able to function in the high-pressure environment of the artery. The first patient to undergo the procedure was a week-old infant.

‘Annually, we perform about 15 such surgeries. The readily available 3D material solves the issue of the availability of homografts – tissue acquired from organ donors and specially prepared to be used in such procedures. Access to them is very limited. In collaboration with the producers of the 3D material, we’ll be able to overcome this problem. New medical technologies will also be one of the topics of the workshops we’re organising’, said Prof. Tomasz Mroczek.