5th Auto-transplantation Performed

April 04,2024

At the end of last year, another successful surgery was performed in our hospital, characteristic of academician Dr. Zan Mitrev and his team.
Successful cardiac auto-transplantation was performed in a 55-year-old patient with terminal valve disease.

Heart auto-transplantation as a procedure has the same stages as heart transplantation from another donor. The difference is that in auto-transplantation, the damaged organ is not replaced, but the heart of the patient to whom the intervention is performed is reconstructed.
This is the 5th such surgery performed by academician Dr. Zan Mitrev since 2000. The last such intervention was performed in 2017 on a 64-year-old woman.

“This patient is not with us for the first time. Namely, 15 years ago, his mitral valve was replaced with a mechanical one, and last year he was hospitalized due to heart failure as part of COVID-19 infection, when the inevitable need for auto-transplantation was determined. In patients with this type of problem, i.e. with paravalvular mitral valve leakage, cardiac auto-transplantation is the only solution. In them, the dilatation of the atria of the heart is huge, which can often cause the clot to detach, i.e. a stroke or heart attack that results in death. Fortunately, our patient Mr. Dragan Ristovski, after an extensive resection of the left atrium and suture of the leak, with a regular postoperative course, was released a week later for home recovery. “, said Dr. Mitrev.

The words of gratitude from him and his family, for the team of doctors who participated not only in the surgery, but also in the period before and after it, he sent as soon as he arrived home. “Thank you is a small word compared to what I received at the Zan Mitrev Clinic. I would start with Dr. Enver Idoski for whom I have only words of praise over the years. On this occasion I would like to publicly thank him for all the support before and after the surgery. Many thanks to all the staff of intensive care unit who were by my side in the most critical moments, and of course the biggest THANK YOU to Dr. Zan Mitrev who made it possible for our whole story to have a happy ending. Thank you once again for giving me the opportunity for my heart to continue working, “wrote Dragan Ristovski in his message.