Milan, 17 Mar. (Adnkronos Salute) — From Stockholm to Pavia to treat a potentially fatal arrhythmia, which since he was a child caused him continuous cardiac arrests. A 17-year-old Swedish boy, suffering from a severe tachycardia of genetic origin called Cpvt (catecholamine polymorphic ventricular tachycardia), was operated at St. Matthew’s Polyclinic that the doctors of Karolinska Hospital had contacted considering the condition of the young man. The patient was therefore subjected to a delicate cardiac denervation surgery at the Irccs Pavia.After a period of monitoring in coronary intensive care he was discharged — they inform from the Lombard hospital — and is ready to fly to his home, in Sweden.
Cpvt — explains a note from San Matteo — is a genetic disorder caused by various mutations, whose main effect is the alteration of intracellular calcium homeostasis. The disease causes syncope, or cardiac arrest, which occurs in 60% of cases by 20 years of age. The young man suffered from catecholamine ventricular tachycardia due to calmodulin mutation and from early childhood manifested ventricular arrhythmias with repeated cardiac arrests. He was initially treated in Sweden with medication and the implantation of a cardiac defibrillator, but nevertheless continued to suffer from recurrent episodes of life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias. Precisely the dramatic nature of the situation, the professionals of the prestigious Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm contacted the specialists of San Matteo — underlines the IRCCS — to plan the cardiac denervation surgery.
The operation was performed by the team composed of surgeon Luigi Pugliese, assisted by arithmologist Alessandro Vicentini, referent for hereditary arrhythmogenic diseases, and anesthesiologist 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 by Peter Schwartz, former director of the chair of Cardiology at the University of Pavia, and consists in removing the ganglia of the left sympathetic nervous system with the aim of reducing adrenergic activation at the cardiac level.The technique, initially used for the treatment of long QT syndrome (heart disease on a genetic basis, which can lead to sudden death), has evolved over the years and has made it possible to successfully treat patients with other forms of inherited genetic diseases and patients with heart failure and threatening ventricular arrhythmias.
At San Matteo, thanks to the experience of the general surgeon Pugliese, one of the leading experts in Europe for this type of intervention — highlights the hospital — cardiac denervation is performed with a robotic thoracoscopic technique that allows a highly effective, minimally invasive treatment with very fast recovery times. Patients with complex ventricular arrhythmias are followed by the Arrhythmology and Electrophysiology Unit, a national reference center for the treatment of complex arrhythmias and excellence of Cardiology and the Pavia Cardiothoracic Department.
«Being among the few centers in Italy and Europe that can propose 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 Cardiology at San Matteo.
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