I'm not trying to diminish their achievement. Obviously, this is a big deal and the people involved should be proud.
Cardiac catheterization is a type of surgery.

And wtf does GEJ have to do with this? Do we have to bring politics into everything?

no we musn't bring in poltics into everything. i wasn't opposing your post in anyway, i'm just after the fac that there was success and we should all be happy for that as Nigerians/

actually cardiac catheterization is not a form of surgery and the vessel used is not a vein. it is the femoral or radial artery. just because a procedure is invasive does not mean it is a form of surgery. if we classify all invasive procedures as surgeries then we will have to call phlebotomy and biopsy a surgery too

Evil Brain:

The headline is wrong by the way. Caordiac catheterization is definitely a form of surgery. Its not as serious as cutting open the baby's chest cavity, but its still a very invasive proceedure.

You have to pass a tube through the femoral vein (in the thigh), all the way into the right atrium in the baby's heart. Nowadays I thing they use an umbrella-like device that opens up to block the hole which means the child will be carrying around a foreign body in her chest for the rest of her life.

Its ridiculous to say the hole was closed "without surgery" 

You are wrong. It is definitely NOT a very invasive procedure - all you do is stick a catheter through the femoral artery - thats about how 'invasive' you get.
As relates to medicine and surgery, this nothing invasive. I appreciate your effort though, but being nitpicky in times like this is totally uncalled for.

Kudos to the docs. Cant wait to start doing stuff like this,

progress. onwards we troop

noic 1, keep it up!

Zi:

@slap1
u r always online & on this thread. Wat do u do 4 a living?

Lol, have we 'met' before? I'm not always online (like Bluetooth, Beaf, etc). And I do nothing for a living. Will you offer me a job? Thanks in advance.

erm, what about minimally invasive surgery
this should fit the bill

@slap1
i ready the posts mosttimes but rearly coment.
will u be my chef?

^ ASAP! Location?

May God continue to bless u guys, how i wish my Younger sister were still here to benefit from this, May her soul RIP.

Good one!
Nigerians have talents, we are good but the govt isnt encouraging.

[b][size=40pt]KEEP IT UP![/[/size]b]

good news, and thank God for saving another life through human efforts.

Finally Hope, !

Great Nigeria people, three gbosa for the hospital. gbosa! gbosa!! gbosa!!!

buzugee:

actually cardiac catheterization is not a form of surgery and the vessel used is not a vein. it is the femoral or radial artery. just because a procedure is invasive does not mean it is a form of surgery. if we classify all invasive procedures as surgeries then we will have to call phlebotomy and biopsy a surgery too

It involves sharp objects and blood is shed, therefore it is surgery.

Also, they definitely don't use the femoral artery. Actually, because most cardiac catheterizations are done because of coronary artery disease (for coronary angiography or to insert a stent or something), they usually go throught an artery to get to the aorta and the coronary vessels.

What they did at Reddington is completely different. Its a procedure called Percutaneous Transcatheter Closure and it involves going through the femoral <b>vein</b>, getting into the right artium through the IVC and deploying the umbrella device to close the hole. An added benefit of using the low pressure venous side is that you're less likely to paint the ceiling red when your during the proceedure.

emedicine.medscape.com/article/162914-overview

slap1:

^ ASAP! Location?

Thought you were a writer.

Anyway, I'll take it South East Uni's are still on strike

[size=19pt][/size]

I don't know what the hullabaloo and the medical jargon is all about but its a happy thing that something good is happening in Nigeria. God Bless Nigeria

I got the hint that the procedure cost the child's parent about 5million naira. 
it might sound expensive because its the first, but with the right sponsorship (from probably the govt) it will definitely be affordable in the nearest future[color=#000099][/color]

Evil Brain:

It involves sharp objects and blood is shed, therefore it is surgery.

Also, they definitely don't use the femoral artery. Actually, because most cardiac catheterizations are done because of coronary artery disease (for coronary angiography or to insert a stent or something), they usually go throught an artery to get to the aorta and the coronary vessels.

What they did at Reddington is completely different. Its a procedure called Percutaneous Transcatheter Closure and it involves going through the femoral <b>vein</b>, getting into the right artium through the IVC and deploying the umbrella device to close the hole. An added benefit of using the low pressure venous side is that you're less likely to paint the ceiling red when your during the proceedure.

emedicine.medscape.com/article/162914-overview

dude, this is not even remotely close to being called a surgery. these kinds of procedures are even performed by people called cath lab technicians. you think they will allow someone who is not a surgeon to perform surgerys ?

buzugee:

dude, this is not even remotely close to being called a surgery. these kinds of procedures are even performed by people called cath lab technicians. you think they will allow someone who is not a surgeon to perform surgerys ?

Surgery: "The third part of medicine which cures by the hand. It does not omit medicaments and regulated diets, but does most by hand." The first recorded definition of surgery by Celsus in AD 30.
From wikipedia: "a medical specialty that uses operative,
manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition"

The long and short is if you are using mostly physical means to treat your patients, then you are a surgeon. It doesn't matter whether its reducing a fracture, removing a gall bladder or blocking a hole in the heart with a catheter and an umbrella device.

By definition, dentists are surgeons, and so are obstetricians, physiotherapists, chiropractors, cath lab technicians and backroom abortionists. The original surgeons weren't even doctors at all. In old school England, most of them were barbers.

I really don't see you point.

i am proud to be a nigerian

coded777:

Whether it is done via surgery or forgery is no concern of anyone, provided the operation was successful. Believe it, Goodluck has come to stay in Nigeria.

No we don't want goodluck and the gambling it connotes
God's grace should stay in Nigeria

Evil Brain:

Surgery: "The third part of medicine which cures by the hand. It does not omit medicaments and regulated diets, but does most by hand." The first recorded definition of surgery by Celsus in AD 30.
From wikipedia: "a medical specialty that uses operative,
manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition"

The long and short is if you are using mostly physical means to treat your patients, then you are a surgeon. It doesn't  matter whether its reducing a fracture, removing a gall bladder or blocking a hole in the heart with a catheter and an umbrella device.

By definition, dentists are surgeons, and so are obstetricians, physiotherapists, chiropractors, cath lab technicians and backroom abortionists. The original surgeons weren't even doctors at all. In old school England, most of them were barbers.

I really don't see you point.

ahhhh i see the folly of your thinking. you are equating victorian england vernacular  with 2010.

this is an excerpt from webMD.checkout the bolded part

Why It Is Done

Cardiac catheterization and coronary artery disease
Cardiac catheterization is done to:

Check blood flow and blood pressure in the chambers of the heart.
Check blood flow in the coronary arteries and, if you have coronary artery disease (CAD), determine whether surgery or another type of procedure, such as angioplasty with stenting, is needed to open the blocked blood vessels.
Other reasons for having a cardiac catheterization

Please don't quote WebMD. The info there is seriously dumbed down for laypeople. Probably why you misunderstood.

Let me clarify: coronary angiography via cardiac catheterization is done to look for blocked arteries and inserting a stent, also via cardiac catheterization, is done to open up said blockage. The hole in the Reddington baby's heart was closed with an umbrella device via cardiac catheterization.

All of the above are forms of surgery because they involve mainly physical means of diagnosing or treating a problem. If they had closed the hole with a drug, like they sometimes do in newborns with a similar condition, it would have been non-surgical. There's nothing like old school vernacular here. Surgery is surgery is surgery.

I don't know how to explain it more than that. You'll just have to take my word for it. I'm tired and I'm going to bed.

Good night!

@Evil brain
i think you should leave this thread alone, no matter how you explain it, its difficult for someone without your medical background to understand.You must realise it isnt easy explaining first principles in medicine to non medical personel.

reindeer:

@Evil brain
i think you should leave this thread alone, no matter how you explain it, its difficult for someone without your medical background to understand.You must realise it isnt easy explaining first principles in medicine to non medical personel.

would you swallow your tongue if i told you that i work in cardiology as an electrophysiologist ? i deal with heart rhythm issues. rhythms originating from the sinus node (sinus rhythm, sinus arrest, sinus block, sinus arrhythmia, sinus tachycardia, sinus bradycardia )
av node ( junctional rhythm, PJC, junctional tachycardia, junctional bradycardia, accelerated junctional rhythm )
atria rhythms ( atrial flutter, atrial fibrillation, PAC, multifocal atrial tachycardia, wandering atrial pacemaker, paroxysmal atrial tachycardia, SVT )
ventricular rhythms (PVC, agonal rhythm, idioventricular rhythm, accelerated idioventricular rhythm, ventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation, pacemaker rhythms, asystole, ventricular asystole, torsades de pointes )
av blocks (first degree blocks, 2 to 1 AV block, wenckebach, mobitz 2, third degree AV block )
myocardial infarction rhythms
pericarditis rhythms
right and left bundle branch blocks
right and left ventricular hypertrophy
electrolyte abnormality rhythms
digitalis rhythm etc etc.
this is what i do mayne i aint no JJC

For clarifications before further comments:
are you a doctor with special interest in Cardiac electrophysiology?or you are an eletrophysiology technician?
Your rattling out ECG parametres and diagnosis mean nothing to me if you dont have the right background.

there is such a thing as electrophysiology technician ? you americans are too lazy. gotta break everything down into compartments

I am not an american.
I am on my way to becoming a consultant neonatal cardiologist in the UK, rotating through oncology currently.
And yes, there are electrophysiology technicians and electrophysiology nurses and they mainly run the ECG and give valuable assistance for patients in cardilogy unit.
So you still didnt answer the question, are you a doctor?

Naija, lol.

@reindeer : I thought that was what indomethacin was for! Closure of PDAs,

Anyway, I think we should celebrate when we can have this replicated in public hospitals that the average nigerian can afford.

We still have a very long way. Until recently, I never knew bronchoscopy was not commonly done in Naija except for a few centers like mine. So God help d child who aspirates a screw or an earring,

@coded 777: what has goodluck jonathan got to do with a cardiac catheterization beting done at a PRIVATE hospital? My center (a public institution) has an angiography machine but there is no interventional cardiologist to use it and to my knowledge, none of the cardio guys have been sent for a fellowship. So basically, its gathering dust.

@EvilBrain: I completely agree with you. All these journalists of nowadays sef, or is it marketing hype? Unfortunately, more than 60% of nigerians cannot afford to go to Reddington.

@buzugee: Which technician in agege does cardiac catheterization that you know of? All these people who think they can come online and write whatever they like sef, all these doctor wannabes. Learn and stop whinning!

To my knowledge, a cardiac catheter insertion for CVP or PCWP monitoring isn't surgery but repair of a persistent PDA is surgery.

Its like endoscopy. Not all endoscopic procedures are surgeries. Flexible laryngoscopy is not surgery but ERCP (endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography) is surgery.