In Lviv, cardiac surgeons have carried out a unique heart operation on a 70-year-old patient from Krasne, using the rare Chimney technique to correct severe mitral disease.
Mrs Nadiia came to the Lviv clinic for a routine pacemaker check-up. During the examination, doctors discovered a pronounced mitral valve pathology and extensive calcification (calcinosis) of the mitral annulus. This made it difficult to implant a standard prosthesis.
According to cardiac surgeon Professor Liubomyr Kulyk, a standard mitral valve operation had been planned. However, because of the severe valve damage and extensive tissue calcification, the opening created for the new valve turned out to be too narrow, and the available standard prosthesis of an acceptable diameter would have been too small to ensure adequate blood flow. In that case, the patient would have continued to suffer from breathlessness and fatigue.
When conventional approaches proved unsuitable, the cardiac surgery team led by Professor Kulyk opted for an unconventional solution – to use the Chimney technique. The doctors created a special structure from a vascular graft, to which the new valve had been sewn in advance. This structure projects upwards above the calcified annulus and resembles a chimney, hence the name of the technique.
“We used the Chimney method, where we place into this mitral valve opening a structure in which the valve is sewn to a vascular graft, in order to preserve blood supply. Similar techniques are sometimes used on the aortic valve, but for mitral disease this is a unique precedent in Ukraine,” said Liubomyr Kulyk
According to available information, in Ukraine similar interventions have occasionally been performed on the aortic valve in the past, but this is the first such case involving the mitral valve.
The operation was successful. The medical team kept the patient in hospital a little longer to closely monitor her recovery. Mrs Nadiia is now returning home feeling better, without marked breathlessness or fatigue.