In Ternopil, for the first time in Ukraine, a sarcoma was removed by autotransplantation: details

Surgery to remove a tumor on the heart

Ternopil Regional Military Administration

In the Ternopil Regional Clinical Hospital, for the first time, a cancerous tumor was removed from the heart by the method of autotransplantation – to remove the neoplasm from the left atrium, the organ was removed from the chest.

The surgical intervention lasted 13 hours. During it, the patient was connected to a ventilator, the Ternopil Regional Military Administration reports.

A unique operation was performed on a 45-year-old soldier who was wounded at the front. Previously, the man was diagnosed with mitral insufficiency (a heart defect in which the mitral valve does not close tightly).

“A military serviceman was sent to our department for a planned operation. During the diagnosis, we saw a certain mass in the left atrium, which was perceived as thrombotic.

When they started the operation, they discovered a tumor. They took a histology and decided not to continue the planned operation: it was necessary to prepare for such a large-scale intervention.” – said Volodymyr Moroz, cardiologist, head of the Department of Cardiac Surgery and Transplantology of the Ternopil Regional Clinical Hospital.

According to him, to gain access to the neoplasm, the heart had to be removed. Therefore, the operation took place in two stages.

The first involved heart explantation and removal of tumor fragments in the chest. Subsequently, doctors formed the back wall of the left atrium from the bovine pericardium (outer shell of the heart), into which the pulmonary veins were previously sewn. The “native” wall was affected by sarcoma, so doctors removed it.

The second stage is direct work with the heart, during which the man’s left atrium was restored and a new mitral valve was installed.

The postoperative period was difficult, doctors say.

“Now the patient’s condition is satisfactory. We discharged him. He is with his family in Kyiv. He is also undergoing rehabilitation and special treatment.” – noted Volodymyr Moroz.

Earlier, we told that in Ukraine, for the first time in Ukraine, a heart operation was performed with the help of the Da Vinci robotic surgeon.