Stories

Maria Jose
8 years
Maria Jose is an 8-year-old girl from El Tortuguero, a little town 300 miles away from Managua. Getting Maria to the Pediatric Heart Center where the surgery could be performed required a dangerous trek for more than 10 hours. Maria Jose has a history of rheumatic heart disease, which left her with a severe aortic stenosis..
Maria Jose
8 years

Maria Jose is an 8-year-old girl from El Tortuguero, a little town 300 miles away from Managua. Getting Maria to the Pediatric Heart Center where the surgery could be performed required a dangerous trek for more than 10 hours. Maria Jose has a history of rheumatic heart disease, which left her with a severe aortic stenosis and severe left ventricular hypertrophy. On September 10, 2014, Maria finally received the surgery that saved her life. During the operation, Maria experienced profound bleeding. She endured many tubes for an entire week in the Intensive Care Unit. Doctors couldn't leave her bedside because she needed round-the-clock care, but in early October, after some weeks of steady healing, Maria made a full recovery and was released from our Heart Center.



Francella
15 months
Francella, baby de Delia Nadeska Mercado Mojica, is a 15 months-old girl with 10.4 kg from Granada who was diagnosed with a complex cardiac disease that does not allow total repair at this stage (multiple large interventricular communications, or communications between the left and the right ventricles)..
Francella
15 months

Francella, baby de Delia Nadeska Mercado Mojica, is a 15 months-old girl with 10.4 kg from Granada who was diagnosed with a complex cardiac disease that does not allow total repair at this stage (multiple large interventricular communications, or communications between the left and the right ventricles). Therefore, she underwent a palliative close heart intervention (pulmonary artery banding) that intends to protect the lungs from excessive flow and pulmonary hypertension. Postoperative course was uneventful and she was discharged home on the third postoperative day.



Emely
12 months
Emely Rivera Aburto is a 14 months-old girl with only 8.5 kg, who was followed for a congenital cardiac defect consisting of a large ventricular septal defect or VSD (a large communication between the left and the right ventricle) and a persistent ductus arteriosus or PDA (a persistent fetal vessel between..
Emely
12 months

Emely Rivera Aburto is a 14 months-old girl with only 8.5 kg, who was followed for a congenital cardiac defect consisting of a large ventricular septal defect or VSD (a large communication between the left and the right ventricle) and a persistent ductus arteriosus or PDA (a persistent fetal vessel between the aorta and the pulmonary artery). She successfully underwent an open heart surgery that allowed the closure of the VSD and the ligation of the PDA. Her postoperative course was uneventful and she was promptly discharged home 2 days later.



Carlos Manuel
15 years
Carlos Manuel Gaitan López, 15 year-old adolescent who was followed for a congenital cardiac defect that had significantly progressed over the years. This was a pulmonary stenosis or obstruction to blood flow from the right ventricle to the pulmonary arteries, associated with a very impressively dilated (aneurysmal)..
Carlos Manuel
15 years

Carlos Manuel Gaitan López, 15 year-old adolescent who was followed for a congenital cardiac defect that had significantly progressed over the years. This was a pulmonary stenosis or obstruction to blood flow from the right ventricle to the pulmonary arteries, associated with a very impressively dilated (aneurysmal) left pulmonary artery that was under risk of abrupt life-threatening rupture. He underwent a successful open heart surgery that relieved the obstruction and also repaired the dilated vessel. His postoperative course was uneventful and he was promptly discharged to the ward and then home, a few days later.


Wesley
15 months
Wesley is a 15 months-old little boy with only 6.5 kg, who was followed for a congenital cardiac defect consisting of a large ventricular septal defect or VSD (a large communication between the left and the right ventricle). He successfully underwent an open heart surgery that allowed the closure of the VSD..
Carlos Manuel
15 months

Wesley is a 15 months-old little boy with only 6.5 kg, who was followed for a congenital cardiac defect consisting of a large ventricular septal defect or VSD (a large communication between the left and the right ventricle). He successfully underwent an open heart surgery that allowed the closure of the VSD. His postoperative course was uneventful and he was discharged home a few days later.



Brisa del Mar
5 years
Brisa del Mar is a lovely 5 year-old girl who came to the Heart Center in Managua for evaluation of breathlessness. She was found to have a severe obstruction to the blood flowing between the left ventricle and the aorta, in the form of a subaortic membrane, an evolving congenital heart disease..
Brisa del Mar
5 years

Wesley is a 15 months-old little boy with only 6.5 kg, who was followed for a congenital cardiac defect consisting of a large ventricular septal defect or VSD (a large communication between the left and the right ventricle). He successfully underwent an open heart surgery that allowed the closure of the VSD. His postoperative course was uneventful and he was discharged home a few days later.



Carlos José
8 months
Carlos José Navarro Marin is a 8 month-old little boy with only 5.2 kg, who was followed for a congenital cardiac defect consisting of a large ventricular septal defect or VSD (a large communication between the left and the right ventricle). He underwent an open heart surgery that allowed the closure of the VSD..
Carlos José
8 months

Carlos José Navarro Marin is a 8 month-old little boy with only 5.2 kg, who was followed for a congenital cardiac defect consisting of a large ventricular septal defect or VSD (a large communication between the left and the right ventricle). He underwent an open heart surgery that allowed the closure of the VSD. His postoperative course was fraught by a dehiscence of the patch closing the VSD; since the Denver team was gone by then, the local team took care of the re-operation that successfully addressed this occurrence. Carlos was discharged home a few days later.

