Patients suffering from infections in their cardiac valves can often be in danger of losing their lives. One such case of a 35 year old woman named Rivka recently presented at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem in the form of a particularly aggressive infection measuring over three centimeters. Given her medical history, the doctors determined that she was in a life-threatening condition and advised proceeding with an open-chest surgery.

But as the condition continued deteriorate despite intenstive antibiotic treatments, the medical teams made the decision to perform a particular cardiac treatment that had never before been applied in Israel whereby a large infected growth would be removed via catheterization.

Until now, patients with these types of growths would be addressed with open chest surgeries. But with catheterization being a less invasive and overall safer approach with speedier recoveries, the decision was made that Rivka was an appropriate candidate for this method.

The procedure went ahead in Shaare Zedek’s Cardiac Catheterization Unit under the direction of the Unit’s Director Prof. Danny Dvir. Extracting the growth was aided by a specialized system under the guidance of the head of the Echocardiogram Unit, Prof, Shimmy Carasso. Upon extraction, the growth was taken for further examination and following the procedure’s completion the patient was quickly stabalized and was able to return home within a short amount of time.

Prof. Dvir commented, “We were very encouraged that we were able to help Rivka after she arrived at the hospital in a particularly complex condition. This procedure is in the class of specialized catheterizations that until now have not been practiced in Israel and Shaare Zedek is now the first to do so. These methods allow for a non-invasive approach in cases which previously had no real effective and safe option for treatment. We are witnessing the development of cardiac catheterization into new arenas in ways that patients who might previously had only been able to count on surgical options can come to our Unit and benefit from non-invasive approaches that can be very succesful.”

Rivka thanked the hospital saying, “I am deeply thankful to my cardiologists and the whole team at Shaare Zedek. Prof. Hassin has been overseeing my case for many years and helped develop and implement this approach that was then expertly performed by Prof. Danny Dvir and has helped relieve me of this infection in my heart. I am very thankful to the whole hospital team that cared for me for more than three challenging weeks and who despite the obstacles that came along the way were able to help me reach the point where I was released in a condition where I was ready to return to my home and family.”