Frank managed to receive a self-expanding pulmonary valve implant this 2024.
At the age of 5, Jesús Francisco García underwent open-heart surgery to correct a congenital abnormality. This intervention allowed him to live normally until he was 30 when he began to experience pulmonary failure, a side effect of the same condition he was born with.
Under normal conditions, the solution would have involved a new open-heart operation, a procedure with significant risks. However, Frank, as he is widely known, became the main patient of an innovative medical technique that, for the first time, was carried out in Mexico.
Frank is the first patient to receive a self-expanding pulmonary valve implant, a medical advance that offers a minimally invasive alternative to traditional open-heart surgeries and that until recently, had only been performed in other countries.
The procedure was performed at TecSalud’s Zambrano Hellion Hospital on July 29, with the intervention of various specialists. This state-of-the-art hospital is located in the city of Monterrey, Nuevo León, México.
Frank was born with Tetralogy of Fallot, one of the most common congenital heart diseases in which the heart has four defects in its structure.
The treatment is usually surgery in the first years of life to repair the defects, as this man experienced. However, it is common for these patients to present pulmonary insufficiency throughout their lives and to require a second intervention.
Frank noticed his first symptoms about five years ago while playing basketball, but his doctors decided to wait because there was the possibility of treating his problem through an innovative technique that is less invasive than surgery.
The implant is placed percutaneously. It can deform to be introduced through catheters in the legs, then reach the pulmonary artery and self-expand on its own to solve the problem.
If he had undergone heart surgery, Frank would still be hospitalized, recovering.
Instead, this marketer excitedly tells us that his doctor has already permitted him to travel. He will soon buy his tickets to go to Italy, a destination he dreams of visiting.
TYT Newsroom
