N. Palazzolo
From Stockholm to Pavia for a new life. A 17-year-old Swedish boy, who has always struggled against a congenital disease that caused him continuous cardiac arrests, was operated on and saved by the doctors of the San Matteo Polyclinic. Now he is fine and can go home.
The young patient was affected by a severe tachycardia of genetic origin called CPVT (catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia). The doctors of the Karolinska Hospital contacted the colleagues of the San Matteo Polyclinic who subjected him to a delicate cardiac denervation surgery. After a period of monitoring in the coronary intensive care unit, he was discharged.
The CPVT – explains a note from San Matteo – is a genetic disorder caused by various mutations. The main effect is the alteration of intracellular calcium homeostasis. The disease causes syncope, or cardiac arrest, which occurs in 60% of cases within 20 years of age. The young man from early childhood manifested ventricular arrhythmias with repeated cardiac arrests. He was initially treated in Sweden with drugs and the implantation of a cardiac defibrillator, but it wasn’t enough. He continued to have life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias. In Pavia, the operation was performed by a team composed of the surgeon Luigi Pugliese, the arrhythmologist Alessandro Vicentini, referent for hereditary arrhythmogenic diseases, and the anesthetist Anna Mori.
Cardiac denervation for anti-arrhythmic purposes – recalls the note – is an intervention that was introduced in Italy in the early 70s of the last century. It has evolved over the years and has made it possible to successfully treat patients with other forms of hereditary genetic diseases and patients with heart failure and threatening ventricular arrhythmias. Pugliese is among the leading experts in Europe for this type of intervention – highlights the hospital – and at San Matteo cardiac denervation “is performed with a robotic thoracoscopic technique that allows a highly effective, minimally invasive treatment with very rapid recovery times” . Patients with complex ventricular arrhythmias are followed up by the Arrhythmology and Electrophysiology Unit, a national reference center for the treatment of complex arrhythmias and excellence in Cardiology and the Pavia Cardiothoracovascular Department. “Being among the few centers in Italy and Europe that can offer cardiac denervation surgery allows us to offer patients with malignant arrhythmias an additional treatment weapon for clinical conditions that do not respond to conventional therapies”, says Roberto Rordorf, head of Arrhythmology of the Cardiology of San Matteo.
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