Four months ago 26-year-old Nikola Gjorgjevski feared for the future – he wanted to form a family and be confident that he would be healthy and strong enough to live a normal life. Now everyday life and certainty of his future have another dimension. Gjorgjevski feels well following the cardiac surgery performed at Acibadem Sistina Hospital. Nikola’s problem has lasted for years, notwithstanding regular follow-up examinations. However, difficulties he was faced with and information he got inspired him to visit Acibadem Sistina Hospital – the greatest motive to perform intervention was the sense of security – that he would have effective treatment and caring, and after all he will have a life of a healthy man. “That emotion encouraged me. I wanted certainty, a secure future, and I felt I would get it here. Then over a year I was coming for follow-up examinations every second month. Afterwards the intervention was performed”, begins Gjorgjevski his story full with emotions.

HEART PRESSURE

The satisfaction is mutually. According to Dr. Hristovski, the patient will no longer take therapy and he will be able to form a family and live a normal life. He was diagnosed an interventricular septum defect in the thin membranous segment, a delicate location to perform an intervention. Therefore a surgery was not recommended for years. However, chest pain and fatigue brought Nikola to Acibadem Sistina Hospital. “Our initial decision was – to refer the patient to a control ultrasound examination with Dr. Marina Jurukovska. She led the non-invasive section while Dr. Projevska was further involved providing consultation and collaboration.

The problem is not negligible since part of the increased pressure resulting from Nikola’s heart condition burdens the lungs and makes them susceptible to infection, pressuring the heart further and making structure changes in the long run.

GERBODE DEFECT

A few previous examinations and willingness to help him in the best way possible resulted with a call for consultation with Dr. Jaroslav Janushka of the Czech Republic, a specialist in this type of procedure and a friend of Acibadem Sistina Hospital – in order to confirm the diagnosis and possibly to perform the intervention. But during the procedure it was found that Nikola had a very rare abnormality, the so-called Gerbode defect. It means communication between the right and the left atria of the heart. During the intervention a cardiac surgery team was involved and a cardiac surgery room was on standby.

A HEART OCCLUDER

“After we made a plan to perform the intervention, we called Nikola, the patient we loved very much not only as a patient but also as a young boy. We wanted to achieve maximum success since our capacity as a private hospital enables cooperation with the Health Insurance Fund, a standby operating room, a complete team of interventional cardiologists and non-invasive cardiologists. We did a great job. It is an extraordinary intervention and we are very pleased, because it is performed at our hospital for the first time. This story will be presented at our next conventions. It impresses with the very procedure of inserting the device for patient’s congenital heart defect”, says Dr. Hristovski. The doctor explains that if this had not been done, classic surgery or open heart surgery would have to be performed. And the medicine, just as the life, seeks less aggressive solutions.

A day following the intervention, pulmonary pressure in Nikola was half-reduced. “It is a young man and probably we have solved his problem permanently. We will be very happy in perspective if we see this guy happy. I want to see him smiling as much as I want to see my Nikola”, says the doctor emotionally. Nikola is happy as well since after six months probably he will need no treatment at all.

NIKOLA: THEY TOOK CARE FOR ME AS FOR THEIR CHILD

Otherwise, attendance of the Czech doctor had a great impact. Dr. Hristovski says that he is a great friend of our country and that they have been cooperating for many years. Their friendship also results in professional development of the Department of Cardiology. Instead of patients going abroad, Dr. Janushka comes to Macedonia and selflessly assists with all his knowledge. And Nikola is speechless – the whole team really loves him. His youth was wind in their backs. He deserves to be like his peers, to have a family in the future and to be its pillar.