At St Nicholas Children’s Hospital in Lviv, doctors have saved 4-month-old Viktoriia from Bukovyna, whose blood clots had blocked around 90% of the lumen of her pulmonary artery. This is the first case of pulmonary embolism diagnosed in an infant at this hospital, according to the First Medical Association of Lviv.
The baby’s health problems began with an ordinary cold when she was just two and a half months old. Against the background of antibiotic therapy, the girl developed pseudomembranous colitis, an acute inflammatory bowel disease. The infant was losing fluid and protein and was in a state of dehydration, anaemia and exhaustion.
After a clot was detected in her heart, the family was urgently referred to Lviv, to St Nicholas Hospital, which provides highly specialised care for children with clotting disorders, thrombosis and bleeding. During a CT scan, radiologists found clots in several locations at once: in the right atrium, the inferior vena cava and the hepatic veins, as well as in the pulmonary artery. In the pulmonary artery, the vessel lumen was blocked by approximately 90%, posing a direct threat to the infant’s life.
The team of Lviv specialists opted for a conservative treatment strategy without surgery. For two weeks, Viktoriia received round-the-clock intravenous medication to dissolve the clots, drugs to correct clotting disorders, blood and protein transfusions, as well as therapy to treat and restore the bowel.
“For two weeks, Viktoriia received round-the-clock intravenous medication to dissolve the clots, the necessary drugs to correct coagulopathy, blood and protein transfusions, as well as therapy to treat and restore the bowel. Thanks to the well-coordinated work of the entire medical team, we managed to achieve good results: the inflamed bowel wall decreased from 6 mm on admission to the ideal norm of 1.3 mm at discharge. All the dangerous clots disappeared and blood flow was restored in critically important vessels. The little one’s test results normalised and she began to gain weight actively” — Yana Dolynna
The girl is now back home, but remains under routine medical supervision. In future, she is to undergo a special test to determine the cause of her tendency to develop clots.
The First Medical Association of Lviv notes that the child’s rescue was made possible thanks to the work of a multidisciplinary team and the development of a new field of medicine for Ukraine, which is being advanced at St Nicholas Hospital under the leadership of renowned paediatric haematologist Professor Leonid Dubey. The association includes St Panteleimon, St Luke, St Nicholas and St Anna hospitals, the UNBROKEN rehabilitation centre and treatment and diagnostic centres.