REBUILDING HEARTS: UTAH SURGEONS REVIVE CARDIOTHORACIC CARE IN HONDURAS

In November, eight members of the University of Utah Cardiothoracic Surgery team traveled to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, to spend a week at the Instituto Nacional Cardiopulmonar (INCP), a national referral hospital for cardiology. The hospital's cardiothoracic surgery program had been on hold since late 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving public hospitals in the country without cardiothoracic surgical services. The Utah team was invited to collaborate with Open Heart Honduras (Corazón Abierto Honduras), an initiative focused on improving clinical care, education, and research while re-establishing an active cardiothoracic surgery program at INCP. The program aims to build connections among visiting and local medical professionals and provide training to the INCP team. This effort was led by Dr. Miguel Alvarez, a native Honduran and former U of U cardiology fellow.

During the visit, the INCP and Utah teams performed ten surgeries in five days, including an ASD closure with autologous pericardium, a mitral valve repair, a left atrial mass resection, an aortic root and aortic valve replacement, and five mitral valve replacements. The Utah group included chief cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Craig Selzman, anesthesiologist Dr. Steve Bott, ICU and surgical nurse Kathleen Stoddard, physician assistant Marv Stoddard, perfusionists Chris Blaylock and Taylor Ruckle, scrub nurse Jene Tapia, and ICU nurse Marisa Rabara.

The teams worked closely together, sharing knowledge and supporting one another throughout the week. Patients who had been experiencing symptoms for years, in some cases limiting their ability to work, expressed appreciation for the care they received. Dr. Alvarez described the week as a “testimony of the power that exists in professional collaboration.” Both teams hope this will be the beginning of an ongoing partnership between INCP and Utah.