Hisashi Nikaidoh, M.D., a cardiothoracic surgeon on the medical staff at Children’s and professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at UT Southwestern, talks with Jeysi’s father at her bedside following the procedure.
Saving lives a world away
The team's journey is a success. Click here (PDF) for a summary of their life-changing work.
Dr. Hisashi Nikaidoh mends heart and reshapes life of young patient
February 16, 2007
Dr. Nikaidoh, a cardiothoracic surgeon on the medical staff at Children's and professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at UT Southwestern, breathed a sigh of relief. He knew he had just changed the course of a young child forever.
Three-year-old Carlos suffered from tetralogy of Fallot, one of the most common heart defects in children. The condition causes mixing of oxygen-poor blood with the oxygen-rich blood being pumped out of the heart and into the circulatory system of blood vessels.
Dr. Nikaidoh said the surgery was completed with little complication and expects Carlos to be on the road to recovery in no time.
First surgery and cardiac catheterization procedures get under way in Honduras
February 15, 2007
Jeysi, a 4-year-old girl, was the first patient to enter the operating room at Centro Medico Cemesa Hospital in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.
Diagnosed with an atrial septal defect, she had a hole in the top portion of her heart between the two atriums, which caused the oxygenated and non-oxygenated blood to mix.
Dr. Steven Leonard, a cardiothoracic surgeon on the medical staff at Children's and professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at UT Southwestern, performed the operation.
Jeysi's second chance at life was the culmination of a journey that began following diagnosis four years earlier and required a seven hour drive. Her father, Jeysi's only caregiver, could not contain tears of joy and relief. He repeatedly expressed that he felt it was a blessing that the doctor were able to heal his daughter.
In the catheterization lab, Dr. Thomas Zellers, chief medical officer of Children's Medical Center and professor of Pediatrics at UT Southwestern, performed diagnostic procedures on four patients in preparation for surgery in the coming days.
Children's cardiac team screens first pediatric patients in Honduras
February 13, 2007
The first patient to be screened by the Children's cardiac team at Centro Medico Cemesa Hospital in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, was a 2-month-old girl named Adriana. The fragile child had been abandoned at a neighboring hospital where she was born.
An orphan in the truest sense, the child's life is sustained by a feeding tube supplying nourishment due to complications from a cleft palate. Doctors noted quick and shallow breathing and blue-tinged skin, a common symptom in children with heart conditions.
The second patient screened is José, a 3 ½-year-old boy diagnosed with dextrocardia, an abnormal congenital positioning of the heart. Instead of the heart forming in the fetus on the left side, it flips over and forms on the right side.
His parents were unaware of his condition until recently, and as a result he is underweight. Due to his weak condition, José only recently began walking, something most children half his age already have mastered.
Members of the medical staff from Children's will evaluate both patients to determine eligibility for surgery.
Top 10 cardiac team from Children's prepares for week of surgeries and interventions
February 12, 2007
When Dr. Thomas Zellers, chief medical officer of Children's Medical Center and professor of Pediatrics at UT Southwestern, walked out the front door on Feb. 12, he was greeted by a gust of warm air.
While many of his colleagues back home in Dallas arose to temperatures hovering around 40 degrees Fahrenheit, Dr. Zellers prepared for a day that started in the mid 80s but quickly arose to the low 90s.That's what happens when you travel near the equator to provide cardiac care to impoverished children.
Following a devotional gathering at the hotel at 6 a.m., the 20-person cardiac team from Children's departed for Centro Medico Cemesa Hospital in San Pedro Sula, Honduras to start operations and cardiac catheterization labs. Four heart surgery cases and at least three cath procedures were scheduled for the first day.
The Children's team accounts for the majority of participants of the 31-person group, the largest ever sent by the Friends of Barnabas Foundation.
Cardiac team from Children's extends mission to Honduras
February 9, 2007
The Children's mission to make life better for children doesn't stop at hospital's front door &emdash; or the nation's border.
Twenty Children's employees and members of the medical staff will be in Honduras from Feb. 10 through Feb. 17 to provide cardiac care to children who otherwise would have little hope of overcoming the medical obstacles life has placed before them.
Team members are using their own personal vacation time to participate in the mission, which has been coordinated with The Friends of Barnabas Foundation, a non-profit faith-based organization. The group from Children's will be joined by experienced medical professionals from Virginia, Maryland, Mississippi and Oklahoma.
"Extending hope"
One of the members of the team is Dr. Hisashi Nikaidoh, a cardiothoracic surgeon on the medical staff at Children's and professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at UT Southwestern.
"The fact that Honduras is such a poor country limits the amount and quality of medical care available," Dr. Nikaidoh said. "It is fortunate that we have the capacity to extend the hope and healing demonstrated every day at Children's Medical Center to the young people of Honduras."
The group will work at Centro Medico Cemesa Hospital in San Pedro Sula. Dr. Thomas Zellers, chief medical officer at Children's and professor of Pediatrics at UT Southwestern, will oversee heart catheterizations on 15 patients. Dr. Nikaidoh and Dr. Steven Leonard, a cardiothoracic surgeon on the medical staff at Children's and professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at UT Southwestern, will coordinate 13 open heart surgeries. The team will also perform many screenings, identifying those with need for surgeries in the future.
During a final preparation meeting Feb. 8 in Moore Auditorium, Dr. Nikaidoh helped distribute monogramed T-shirts and boxes of medical equipment supplied by The Barnabas Foundation. Each team member was asked to bring at least one box of supplies to the airport to check through baggage to ensure all equipment would arrive at the same time.
The Children's team
- Physicians: Dr. Steven Leonard, Dr. Frances Morriss, Dr. Hisashi Nikaidoh, Dr. Claudio Ramaciotti, Dr. Daniel Stromberg, Dr. Thomas Zellers
- Registered nurses: KaTrena Freeman, Amanda Holmes, Susan Prestjohn, Michele Trinka, Kimberly Moore, Shellia Barnes and Amber Wilson
- Respiratory therapist: Joseph Cram
- Surgical technologists: Thurston Sexton and Charlie Steele
- Child Life specialist: Audrey Speck
- Cardiac sonographer: Keith Dixon
- Chaplain: Ron Somers-Clark
- Pastor: Charles Battles Jr.
Tags: cardiologist, Honduras, heart, surgery