Global Unmet Needs in Cardiac Surgery

Publication date: Available online 20 September 2018Source: Global HeartAuthor(s): Peter Zilla, Magdi Yacoub, Liesl Zühlke, Friedhelm Beyersdorf, Karen Sliwa, Gennadiy Khubulava, Abdelmalek Bouzid, Ana Olga Mocumbi, Devagourou Velayoudam, Devi Shetty, Chima Ofoegbu, Agneta Geldenhuys, Johan Brink, Jacques Scherman, Henning du Toit, Saeid Hosseini, Hao Zhang, Xin-Jin Luo, Wei Wang, Juan MejiaAbstractMore than 6 billion people live outside industrialized countries and have insufficient access to cardiac surgery. Given the recently confirmed high prevailing mortality for rheumatic heart disease in many of these countries together with increasing numbers of patients needing interventions for lifestyle diseases due to an accelerating epidemiological transition, a significant need for cardiac surgery could be assumed. Yet, need estimates were largely based on extrapolated screening studies while true service levels remained unknown. A multi-author effort representing 16 high-, middle-, and low-income countries was undertaken to narrow the need assessment for cardiac surgery including rheumatic and lifestyle cardiac diseases as well as congenital heart disease on the basis of existing data deduction. Actual levels of cardiac surgery were determined in each of these countries on the basis of questionnaires, national databases, or annual reports of national societies. Need estimates range from 200 operations per million in low-income countries that are nonendemic for rheumatic heart ...
Source: Global Heart - Category: Cardiology Source Type: research