Xiaoli, 28, was born with Ebstein's anomaly - a malformation of
her heart's tricuspid valve that causes it to leak. Consequently,
some of the blood pumped by the right ventricle goes backwards
through the valve with each heartbeat, causing her heart to
enlarge.
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Ebstein's anomaly is a
heart defect in which the tricuspid valve is abnormally formed and
does not move normally. Often, there's also a hole that causes
atrial septal defect in the wall between the heart's two upper
chambers.
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She was diagnosed with the heart defect during the medical checkup
for the national entrance college examination 11 years ago, says
Xiaoli, who insists that China Daily use aliases for both her and
her husband to prevent complications in their future careers.
"The defect did become an obstacle for my college enrollment and
later employment, but I was able to overcome them," she says,
without elaborating on how she overcame these hurdles.
Despite her problems, Xiaoli won the heart of Jerry, and the
couple - both computer engineers - got married two years ago. A few
months later, long hours of work finally took its toll on Xiaoli,
and she was hospitalized for atrial fibrillation. Her heart was
racing, beating at an average of 140 times per minute. Doctors told
her that surgical repair was now a must, because the leaking was
severe and she was at risk for heart failure.
But Ebstein's anomaly is a rare heart defect afflicting one out
of 210,000 newborns. It accounts for only 1 percent of all children
suffering from congenital heart diseases. Leading heart clinics in
the world, such as the famous Mayo Clinic in the United States,
suggest patients choose a surgeon with familiarity and rich
experience in treating the disease.
"My friends and I did a lot of research and consulted a lot of
doctors. Many said they could do it, but after a thorough search,
we realized that Dr Wu Qingyu was the one to treat my wife," Jerry
wrote in his diary.
In fact, in 2004, Dr Wu published his thesis, A New
Procedure for Ebstein's Anomaly, in the American journal for
thoracic surgery and was celebrated for "outstanding early
results".
On May 7 of this year, he presented an updated version of his
work at the annual conference of American Association for Thoracic
Surgery in Washington DC, because he and his colleagues helped 80
patients with Ebstein's anomaly to free themselves not only from
fears of heart failure but also from the complications and possible
life-long need for medications that arise from the more established
procedures.
"His (Wu's) repair technique is innovative, and he has been able
to repair the majority of valves (as opposed to replacing damaged
valves)," Dr Joseph A Dearani told China Daily in an
e-mail. "His work is respected by his peers and is felt to be an
important contribution in the management of Ebstein's anomaly."
Xiaoli underwent corrective surgery in November 2005 and checked
out of the hospital seven days later. She returned to work early
last year, and today, the couple is considering starting a
family.
(China Daily July 25, 2007)
