LUTH performs first open heart surgery, second renal transplantation

Oluremilekun Osobu-Asubiojo

The Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH has successfully performed open heart surgeries on three patients, which is the first by the apex referral institution in the state.

The pioneering move saw the hospital conduct corrective surgeries for an 18-month old girl who was diagnosed with a congenital heart disease with multiple dose of the heart; a 23-year old undergraduate with partial retrovascular section effect and seven year old boy congenital heart disease and hypertrophy right ventricular.

Announcing the landmark exercise to journalists during a press conference in LUTH, Dr Akin Oshibogun, the Chief Medical Director, said that the patients are doing well.

With this landmark achievement, the hospital has joined the league of global hospitals which perform heart surgery, the CMD said, noting that School of Medicine has long been in the list of hospitals in the world that perform renal transplant.

“The first of the three was an 18-month old girl who was diagnosed with a congenital heart disease with multiple dose of the heart. This has been corrected by surgery.

“The second patient is a 23-year old undergraduate who had partial retrovascular section effect. This is also a hole in the heart that tears the heart walls but its since being corrected. The walls have been repaired, the tears have been repaired and she is ready to go home. The third one is a seven-year old boy who also had a congenital heart disease and hypertrophy right ventricular. He has had total heart correction and he can live as long as any of us because it is totally corrected.

“These are the three patients we operated upon during the cardiac surgery. This is a milestone in the life of this country. Other hospitals that have attempted open heart surgery are University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, UNTH, Nsukka and University College Hospital, UCH, Ibadan,” he said.

Oshibogun also said that his institution successfully carried out a renal transplantation in the hospital the same period.

“During the same period, we successfully carried out a renal transplantation in the hospital, everything happened simultaneously, he said, adding that, “This is a very good news for Nigerians. The Lagos University Teaching Hospital has now joined the league of Nigerian hospitals with the capability for open heart surgery.

He noted that this of course will reduce the financial implication for open heart surgery which is less than two million naira and less than three million naira for the renal transplant at LUTH. The CMD noted that it is cost effective rather than travelling out of Nigeria for medicare, thereby incurring huge cost from air tickets, surgery, social care and other expenses to be spent on the patient and other family members accompanying the patient.

“Of course, we know that we have joined the league of hospitals which carry out renal transplantation since. We are strengthening the hospital to be able to offer these services to Nigerians so that the reason for medical tourism outside Nigeria will now reduce. The open heart surgeries were carried out in collaboration with some of our foreign partners and of course some Nigerian experts took part in the procedure,” the CMD said.

Doctors at the hospital, he said, were joined by experts from Hopitaux Universitaires de Geneve, Switzerland, Greece and Istanbul, Turkey to achieve the feat. There was a visiting team of specialists from the Mansoura Hospital, Egypt, he added

According to him, LUTH is collaborating with experts from other countries to ensure effective transfer of technology and safety of patients. “Whenever you are starting a new programme, it is always important to collaborate with other institutions with experience in that area. Prior to this, we have sent our staff for training with our collaborating hospital in India. We have collaboration with the Frontier Lifeline Hospital, India.”

“We have made this decision to ensure the safety of the patients; else, we would have depended on our freshly trained staff. But, the number one goal of the hospital is patient’s safety and because of this goal, we would continue to partner with these institutions so that the technology would be properly transferred.”