Treating Adults with Heart Disease in Costa Rica!

Heart to Heart’s first mission at San Juan de Dios Hospital

In September 2023, Heart to Heart conducted our first-ever adult cardiac training mission to San Jose, Costa Rica. This momentous occasion came as a result of an initial invitation to San Juan de Dios Hospital (HSJD) in 2019 from chief of cardiac surgery, Klaus Kuhn, MD. HSJD is one of three public cardiac centers which serve Costa Rican adults with heart disease.

Over the course of our operating week, the joint Heart to Heart-HSJD team focused our advanced teaching and training on minimally invasive heart surgery. Our joint team operated on four adult patients, ranging in age from 37 to 75 years old. Led by surgeons Kuhn and Danny Ramzy (Heart to Heart), the team performed: two mitral valve repairs, an aortic valve replacement, and a mitral valve repair with ASD closure – all via minimally invasive thoracotomies.

In cardiac surgery, the minimally invasive approach requires accessing the heart through a smaller incision on the patient’s side, between the ribs, instead of opening the chest and cutting through the breastbone (or sternum). This is called a thoracotomy (incision in the thorax), as opposed to the traditional sternotomy (incision through the sternum). This technique is demanding and requires very high levels of surgical skill and precision. Surgeons may choose to perform such repairs on certain patients, based on a variety of medical considerations. Minimally invasive repairs are beneficial to patients for several important reasons, including speedier recovery and reduced chest trauma.

Treating patients of all ages in costa rica

We are grateful to have had the opportunity to work with both adult and pediatric cardiac teams in Costa Rica and look forward to our next opportunity to collaborate in person with our HSJD colleagues. Working together, we can expand access to life-saving care for babies and children born with heart disease, adults with acquired heart disease, and increasingly, adults living with congenital heart disease. We invite you to join us on this exciting journey. 

¡Pura vida!