Already 350 operations have been performed in the modern Vascular Surgery Clinic at the Warsaw Institute of Hematology and Transfusion Medicine, which was officially opened on Thursday. The interiors of the clinic are well known to viewers of TV series.
We wanted to break with the Polish tradition of first opening and then renovation, said the director of the Institute, prof. Krzysztof Warzocha.
The clinic has been operating since December 1, 2009 and has already performed 350 operations. We want to serve patients and develop modern surgical technique – declared the head of the clinic, assistant professor Piotr Szopiński. He cooperates with three specialists and three doctors in the course of specialization, as well as an experienced team of nurses and instrumentalists.
Metropolitan of Warsaw, Archbishop Kazimierz Nycz, consecrated the clinic’s premises and opened – with the click of a mouse – its website, which is to facilitate cooperation with specialists from other centers.
The location of the clinic on Indiry Gandhi Street, near the Ursynów Cancer Center, is not accidental. Pulmonary embolism is the direct cause of death in as many as half of cancer patients – noted Prof. Wojciech Noszczyk, head of the General and Vascular Surgery Clinic at the Bródno Hospital.
In Germany, people over 65 years of age already constitute 30 percent of the population, in our country it will be similar soon. The risk of vascular diseases increases with age – said Prof. Andrzej Dorobisz, national consultant in the field of vascular surgery. However, as specialists pointed out at the press conference, vascular disease is also a problem for young people – last year pulmonary embolism was the cause of the death of the 26-year-old Olympic hammer thrower – Kamila Skolimowska.
Man has over 100 kilometers of blood vessels. Of course, most of them have a microscopic diameter, but surgeons are already able to operate from the center of vessels with a diameter as small as three millimeters – said Prof. You make extra money. In the case of smaller vessels, it is necessary to act pharmacologically.
The new facility is to provide modern diagnostics and treatment to patients with blood and vascular diseases – apart from classic surgical operations on the arterial and venous systems, also the possibility of using the latest achievements of molecular biology, genetics and transfusion medicine. The main areas of interest of the clinic are: minimally invasive surgery, the use of stem cells in revascularization processes, fibrin adhesives and gels, and the treatment of deep vein thrombosis. In the field of endovascular procedures (which account for about 80 percent of the total performed), the surgeons working in the clinic are pioneers on a national scale. The endovascular method is less invasive, the patient remains in hospital for a shorter period of time.
Fibrin glues and gels made of plasma allow to seal vascular anastomoses and heal wounds that are difficult to heal – for example in patients with diabetes. Thanks to the possibility of cooperation with the Department of Hemostasis Disorders at the Institute, there is a possibility of more aggressive treatment of patients with deep vein thrombosis, at risk of pulmonary embolism. Kits are used to quickly remove the thrombus from the vein or drugs to dissolve the clot are administered into the clotted vein. There are also studies on the assessment of coagulation disorders and fibrinolysis in patients after the implantation of various types of endovascular prostheses.
The clinic is equipped with the best equipment – for example the latest generation surgical tables with soft, heated mattresses, transparent to the X-ray equipment used during the surgery. A special system resembling a small conveyor belt allows the patient to be moved from a dirty trolley from the emergency room to a clean – clinical – without effort and without injury. The beautiful finish of the smallest details, calm colors and the ubiquitous stainless steel elements make the rooms of the Institute of Hematology and Transfusiology have already played in many series – for example M jak miłość or Magda M. In such conditions doctors work completely differently – emphasized prof. Warzocha.
The new seat of the Institute of Hematology and Transfusion Medicine, which was opened in 2006, is so extensive that it was not a problem to separate its parts into a new clinic. The Institute’s own funds (several million zlotys) were enough for the renovation and equipment – but it will be up to the National Health Fund to decide how many patients will be helped by the new clinic. The average length of a patient’s stay in one of its 1952 beds is 30-3 days (PAP).