A team led by interventional cardiologists from Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) and Sidra Medical and Research Center (Sidra) performed two successful cardiac procedures at Hamad General Hospital (HGH) which delegates at an international conference observed via live transmission. 
Both procedures were transmitted live to more than 450 delegates at the Paediatric and Adult Interventional Cardiac Catheter Intervention and Congenital and Structural Heart Disease Symposia (PICS-CSI Asia), held in Dubai last month. 
The procedures were jointly carried out by Dr Hesham al-Saloos, paediatric cardiologist at HMC, and Prof Ziyad Hijazi, chairman of paediatrics at Sidra. 
Dr al-Saloos said, “It was a great honour to be invited by the PICS-CSI Asia conference to transmit these live cases to their delegates. This was the first time interventional cases at HMC have been broadcast live in this way and enabled us to showcase the high quality of our therapeutic cardiac catheterisation to hundreds of cardiac medical professionals.” 
The first procedure was performed on a 10-year-old Qatari boy suffering from a leaky heart valve and dilation of his right ventricle. The team carried out a transvenous pulmonary valve implantation - a procedure to insert a new pulmonary valve without surgery. 
The second live transmission case involved an adult male Bangladeshi patient suffering from an atrial septal defect. This meant the patient had a large hole in the wall that separates the top two chambers of the heart. The hole was closed transvenously using a closure device.
Both patients received a therapeutic cardiac catheterisation and avoided the need for traditional open heart surgery. This meant there was no surgical wound and a heart-lung machine and recovery in the Intensive Care Unit were not required. They were both kept under observation in the ward overnight and discharged the following day. 
Prof Hijazi explained, “Live transmissions are a widely used educational and training tool across the medical world. Having conducted similar transmissions in the USA, I was very pleased that we had the opportunity to showcase the procedures from Qatar. The most important thing was that both of the patients’ lives were saved. This is also testament to the level of expertise we have here and that together with HMC, Sidra continues to break new ground to help advance patient focused and safe healthcare services.” 
Dr Yousef al-Maslamani, medical director, HGH, noted, “We have been performing therapeutic cardiac catheterisation for more than three decades and have taken a great leap forward in recent years by offering a non-surgical therapy for complex congenital heart diseases.”