Duke’s pediatric cardiac surgery group welcomed the children’s heart team from Hospital María in Tegucigalpa, Honduras for a week-long observership in August.
The group of 10 physicians participated in multidisciplinary rounds, case-based lunchtime discussions, daily debriefs, and a final capstone session focused on identifying practices that can be adapted to strengthen pediatric cardiac care in Honduras. They observed many cases they had not seen before, including a pediatric heart transplant on an ex-vivo perfusion pump, two Norwood procedures, and the Sustained Total All-Region (STAR) perfusion procedure (which was developed at Duke) for multiple complex aortic arch reconstructions.
The visit was hosted and coordinated by team members Rebekah Boyd, MD, Research Resident; Brian Clark, MD, Professor of Surgery; Tracy Geoffrion, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Surgery; Carmelo Milano, MD, Chief of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery; Douglas Overbey, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Surgery; and Joseph Turek, MD, PhD, MBA, Joseph W. and Dorothy W. Beard Distinguished Professor of Surgery. Maria Fryar and Sherry Gunter managed day-to-day logistics.
Learn more about Pediatric Cardiac Surgery and Global Pediatric Heart Surgery Research at Duke.