surgery to Tonga

tropicalities

Doctors to take open heart surgery to Tonga

Launched at a dinner sponsored by the Syd ney Adventist Hospital last October 24 was an ambitious project by Sydney cardiac surgeons and physi cians to take open heart surgery to Tonga.

Margaret Harris, Sydney Morning Herald Medical Cor respondent, reports; On a recent visit to Tonga, a Sydney cardiologist, Dr David Grout, and cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr Donald Ross, found there was a high rate of treatable heart disease among young Tongans. Damaged heart valves, caused by rheumatic fever were particu larly common.

Rheumatic fever, which usually occurs in childhood, is a fever which lasts for several months and often leaves growths or “vegetation” on heart valves. Such vegetations impair the valves’ ability to control the flow of blood be tween the heart chambers and after a while the heart may begin to fail.

If untreated the patient will eventually die of heart failure.

In some cases the heart goes into the wrong rhythm and the rheumatic heart disease sufferer dies suddenly.

Surgical treatment of ad vanced heart valve disease has become almost routine in Aus tralia, turning a usually fatal disease into one quite easily corrected. Heart surgeons either open out the valve and correct its shape or replace it with an artificial one.

Dr Ross and Dr Grout believe they will be able to save at least 50 young Tongans from prob able death by operating on them over the next three years.

They plan to take a team of

doctors, specialist nurses and paramedical staff to Tonga next March, where they expect to operate over three weeks. They hope to do this yearly for three years, after which they will assess the project.

The team decided it would be better to travel to Tonga for the operations, rather than bring prospective patients to Sydney, because they expect patients will adjust better to operations in their own en vironment.

As well, the Tongan Govern ment can only afford to send one or two patients overseas a year. Usually these people go to New Zealand and stay there, separated from family and friends, until they recover.

The project is being co ordinated by the Sydney Adventist Hospital and staff will go from there, as well as from Royal North Shore and St.

Vincent’s hospitals.

The staff travelling to Tonga will not be paid, although they hope donations will pay for their travelling and equipment expenses.

Top: Members of the Australian open heart surgery team in action.

Below; The team takes a well-earned break between operations.

Right: A young Tongan patient awaits treatment.