- The procedure was performed in 2012 at the Cardiology Hospital of the CMN Siglo XXI.
- If the patient did not receive it, she would have only had five or six months to live.
- Never before had one like it been made in Mexico.
Ten years ago, the Cardiology Hospital of the National Medical Center (CMN) Siglo XXI became a pioneer of medicine in the country. The reason is because he performed the first percutaneous procedure to place an aortic valve through a femoral cardiac catheterization (on the right leg) to Mrs. Ana Martínez, who was 69 years old at the time.
Description of the medical case
Dr. Joel Estrada Gallegos, head of the Hemodynamics Service at the Hospital de Cardiology of the CMN Siglo XXI, highlighted that with this method conventional surgery was avoided. It consisted of opening the thorax, exposing the heart, removing the diseased valve and placing a new artificial one.
“The importance that Ana has for us and for Cardiology of Mexico is that she was the first patient in whom we were able to use this technique and that 10 years later she finds herself with a properly functioning valve.”
He stressed that the fundamental difference in this technique is that there is no surgical event as such. The patient’s chest is not opened, the procedure is faster and the recovery is much better, “currently she has a normal life, obviously she has limitations due to her age, but not due to cardiovascular disease, as she is in perfect condition.”
Mrs. Ana Martínez requested medical attention at her Family Medicine Unit because she felt discomfort and pain in her chest that prevented her from carrying out her daily activities. She was referred to Hospital General de Zona No. 32 where she underwent tests and a murmur was found in her heart.
The first femoral catheterization performed in Mexico
With this diagnosis, the patient was sent to the Emergency Department of the Cardiology Hospital. There, her treating doctor informed her of the possibility of receiving a new treatment that until that moment had not been carried out on any other patient in Social Security or in the country.
“We started with the studies and then they told me if I had been a candidate and that they were going to do the process, they told me that it was not an operation, that there would be no big wound or cut, but that it would be on the leg.”
Mrs. Ana, now 79 years old, remembers that at the moment before making the decision to receive cardiac catheterization she felt fear and anxiety, but that without this procedure she could only have five or six months to live.
“Well, I think it’s worth the risk, and they also told me that it was also for other people who have problems and who can’t receive open heart surgery, so that would be wonderful because they could do that treatment and save Many people”.
He stressed that a few months after receiving the heart valve, the severe pain in his chest and head disappeared, so he was able to resume his housework.
“I feel very good because all the discomfort I felt has gone away, my body reacted well and I have been very happy with it, and I thank the hospital and the doctors”.