Abstract
A pilot study was undertaken to determine the feasibility of establishing a heart surgery programme in northern Nigeria. During three medical missions by a visiting US team, in partnership with local physicians, 18 patients with heart diseases underwent surgery at two referral hospitals in the region. Sixteen (88.9%) patients underwent the planned operative procedure with an observed 30-day mortality of 12.5% (2/16) and 0% morbidity. Late complications were anticoagulant related in mechanical heart valve patients and included a first-trimester abortion one year postoperatively, and a death at two years from haemorrhage during pregnancy. This has prompted us to now consider bioprosthetics as the valve of choice in women of childbearing age in this patient population. This preliminary result has further stimulated the interest of all stakeholders on the urgency to establish open-heart surgery as part of the armamentarium to combat the ravages of heart diseases in northern Nigeria.
Highlights
A pilot study was undertaken to determine the feasibility of establishing a heart surgery programme in northern Nigeria
This has prompted us to consider bioprosthetics as the valve of choice in women of childbearing age in this patient population. This preliminary result has further stimulated the interest of all stakeholders on the urgency to establish open-heart surgery as part of the armamentarium to combat the ravages of heart diseases in northern Nigeria
Northern Nigeria, with over 50% of the nation’s estimated 150 million population, has several tertiary-care hospitals but none has the capacity for open-heart surgery to service the large number of indigent patients affected by the ravages of rheumatic and congenital heart diseases
Summary
A pilot study was undertaken to determine the feasibility of establishing a heart surgery programme in northern Nigeria. Northern Nigeria, with over 50% of the nation’s estimated 150 million population, has several tertiary-care hospitals but none has the capacity for open-heart surgery to service the large number of indigent patients affected by the ravages of rheumatic and congenital heart diseases These patients have a grim prognosis and many face untimely death, with the exception of a minority who have the financial resources or are able to obtain government or private sponsorship to travel abroad for the recommended surgical treatment. Medical treatment is the only available option and is often palliative, with many patients requiring frequent hospitalisations for congestive heart failure and with a resultant poor quality of life Because of this dismal outlook, the Global Eagle Foundation, a US-based non-governmental organisation, in partnership with the Nigerian Government, decided to undertake a pilot project on the feasibility of establishing a heart programme to fill this void.
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