advocating for change of procedures which save lives
Round Table in Rome
A few years ago in Chisinau, Moldova, while in discussions at our Medical Workshop there, the topic of umbilical catheterization came up between doctors. It seems that Chisinau (in the Republic of Moldova) was still using the method of infusing an infant with emergency antibiotics, fluids, medicines etc, via the umbilical chord. It’s a quick way to secure access to the blood stream, however there are risks given its’ proximity to the liver. It became clear in their research that a very high number of children who had had this procedure were returning to the hospital with portal hypertension, cirrhosis of the liver, and many other complications. Many of the children coming with these conditions don’t have a life expectancy past the age of 15. Up to 80 children each year had come to the children’s hospital with liver conditions as well as gastrointestinal bleeding. Although the West of Europe no longer uses this procedure, a formal “change of procedure” has not made its’ way to the East.
Changing such a procedure doesn’t happen overnight and with a few conversations or opinions, but rather requires a more formal approach and changes in legislation at the highest level of the Department of Health.
We decided to take some steps towards the possibility of changing this procedure in Chisinau, and arranged a round table in Rome with Prof. Dr. Jean de Ville de Goyet, one of Europe’s leading Hepatologists. We invited the heads of the Paediatric Hospital in Chisinau and the head representative of the Department of Health for the Republic of Moldova, to this round table in Rome which took place in Spring of this year.
Dr. Lidia Oleinic, Prof. Eva Gudumac, Mark Biech, Lorenzo Borghese, Prof. De Ville De Goyet, Prof. Gheorghe Hincu, Cornelia Iacob, Prof. Jana Bernic, Prof. Natalia Cojesneanu
Together we discussed many issues and challengers surrounding umbilical catheterization vs. intravenous through the vascular system via the arm, foot, head, jugular vein, and so on. After the round table, we continued the conversation over several meetings which opened the door for the Moldovan medical team to make a complex study, documentation and interventions when they arrived back to Moldova. The Medical team, along with the Moldovan Department of Health, formed a Medical Strategy to eliminate this risk to the health of children in Moldova.
We are so pleased to announce that the procedure has now been changed! No more umbilical catheterization, period! This procedural “update” in Chisinau, and all the regions of Moldova, will save countless lives.
