POLITIKA, 25 January 2007 

ANGEL WITH THE NEW HEART

World famous surgeon Afxendios Kalangos saved the life of six years old girl from Apatin at the last moment.
He flew in a private jet from Geneva and went directly to the operation room in Tirsova.

The days of horrible drama and suspense are over for a golden locks, angel face six years old D.K. from Apatin. The doctors of the Paediatric University Hospital in Belgrade managed to save her life thanks to the world famous heart surgeon Professor Doctor Afxendios Kalangos, who arrived to Belgrade at the last moment after the initiative of Princess Katherine.

Dr. Kalangos, of Greek origin, proved himself a great philanthropist and a friend fulfilling an almost impossible mission: he bought the homograft, replacement for the part of the heart that was attacked by the disease, in spite of Serbia not being part of EU and not having approach to the bank of tissues in Brussels. Precious tissue was transported in a box of a size of an average TV set at -83 degrees Celsius and reached Belgrade via Rome and Poland. The charismatic Greek managed to bypass all bureaucratic obstacles and operate the girl in time. The little girl, who attracts attention with her tiny voice and a charming smile “conquers” anyone who sets eyes on her. Yesterday she left intensive care, and in a couple of days she will start walking.

Just four weeks ago, the story was more than dramatic…

Ida Jovanovic, paediatric cardiologist and director of the paediatric clinic in Tirsova says that she has never seen an infection that destroys the little heart with such velocity.

- The girl came to our clinic on the Christmas Day in a bad condition. She had high fever (41). Fortunately, the cardiologist in Sombor hospital Dr. Nevena Boskovic gave a correct diagnosis. The girl that used to be perfectly healthy arrived to our hospital with a heavy infection of aortal grafts.

Antibiotic therapy prescribed by the hospital doctors gave a short living result. The doctors were aware that the struggle for life was starting, but that at the same time they couldn’t do anything, since they could not provide the girl with a new part of the heart, the so called homograft. Cardiologist from the Paediatric University Clinic proved in the past that they can do miracles. They had over 15000 heart interventions, 233 in the past year, and that puts them in the first place among all hospitals in the country. Although their equipment is outdated, they are performing surgeries for which patients used to be sent abroad. But since we are not members of Eurotransplant, an organization through which you can get a heart or part of this organ for transplantation, there are situations when our doctors know what should be done, but are not in a position to do it. Such was the case in the beginning of January.

Fortunately, it was exactly at that time that Princess Katherine visited the clinic, saw the girl and heard the touching story. The quest for Dr. Kalangos began. At that moment he was in Los Angeles. Dr. Kalangos is the head of a clinic in Geneva, runs two humanitarian organizations and helps children around the world. When he heard that the case was urgent, instead of coming on the first Sunday after Christmas, as agreed, thanks to the initiative of Princess Katherine, he arrived to Belgrade on Friday night. From the airport he went directly to Tirsova, where he operated the girl until 1 a.m. At 5 a.m. he was on the same plane heading back to his obligations. He replaced the sick tissue with the homograft and replaced the aortal root and returned the coronary arteries to their place. He didn’t have much time to talk to his colleagues and good friends Dr. Ida Jovanovic and Dr. Ilic, but they will have time to catch up in July, when he will be visiting Belgrade with his humanitarian organization. He will conduct surgeries with his colleagues during his ten days long stay.

- We are proud of ourselves for being able to ask for help in the situations when we know that we can’t help. That is why every month we have the world famous experts visiting our clinic who we work with and learn from them. This was Dr. Kalangos’ third visit to Belgrade – Dr. Ida says.

Dr. Ilic adds that everything that can be done right away is done. 17% of the operations on children last year was done in the first month after birth, and 46% in the first year. The doctors are proud, because the survival rate is within European standards, and the mortality is low – only 2.5%. Dr. Jovanovic adds that they never called themselves great, but they could.

- We reach the big names thanks to our honesty. We call them and tell them that we would like to learn from them and we admit that we don’t have the money. That is why until July we expect extraordinary guests, top European surgeons – Professor Francois Bourlon is coming from Monaco Clinic, then the heart surgeon from Leipzig, Professor Yan Yanovshek, greatest authority in the area of heart malfunctions and pacemakers for children, then Professor Ingo Denart…

Olivera Popovic