Mathilda has a special heart

The story of the first patient implanted with a reSept ASD Occluder in Switzerland has been reported in Forschungs-Magazin, the research magazine by Children’s Hospital Zurich, where Mathilda’s intervention took place.

In a heartfelt recollection, Mathilda’s family shared their journey from diagnosis, through to coronavirus and travel restrictions, to the operation with a novel device with a metal-free frame, and the welcomed, normal life that followed. “Once she got back home, there was nothing to indicate that she had just had a heart operation. Mathilda was alert and started school two weeks later,” Mathilda’s mother remembered in the article.

Forschungs-Magazin also interviewed Professor Oliver Kretschmar, Chief Physician and Co-Head of the Cardiology Department at the University Children’s Hospital Zurich, and Professor of Paediatric Cardiology at the University of Zurich, who implanted Mathilda.

Professor Kretchmar explained in the magazine how minimally invasive implants tend to be ideal options for young patients. “The best implant is not an implant. If it fulfils its purpose, closes the hole and then largely dissolves and the body’s own tissue grows over the hole, that’s fantastic,” he stated.

Read the English translation of the article

Read the original article in German