Establishing an indigenous cardiac anaesthesia service in Enugu: report of two cases of Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) closure

ABSTRACT

Background: Open heart surgery program require enormous resources and commitment to establish. In low and middle income countries like Nigeria it is quite a difficult task. The surgery requires highly sophisticated equipment and specially trained professional teams. The training is done abroad and requires long term planning. Case report We report two cases of two patients, aged 20 and 30-years diagnosed with Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) scheduled for surgical closure under general anaesthesia and cardiopulmonary bypass carried out by a completely indigenous team. The anaesthetic management and the strategy necessary for developing a sustainable open heart program are discussed