Klinicni Center (KC), the Ljubljana-based university hospital, is to introduce next year the artificial heart method to treat patients with heart failure.
The hospital has been prompted to seek the most modern methods of treating heart failure, as the number of cases of the condition continues to rise. According to the hospital, around 15 artificial heart operations will be performed each year.
The hospital launched in September efforts to introduce the new method, said Borut Gersak, the head of the department of cardiovascular surgery at Klinicni center.
According to him, four surgeons, five anesthesiologists and four technicians have already been sent abroad for training in the new surgical procedure.
Gersak added that the new method of treating heart failure has also been put up for confirmation by the assembly of surgeons at the hospital.
Officials at Klinicni center stress that the aim is to offer increasingly comprehensive treatment of heart failure. A key to achieving this is by obtaining know-how from abroad.
As part of these efforts the hospital staged in Ljubljana on Friday a symposium entitled "Possibilities in Treating Terminal Heart Failure" in cooperation with the Texas Heart Institute (THI).
Heart failure is a condition where the heart weakens and cannot pump blood effectively leading to an accumulation of fluid in the lungs, hands, ankles, or other parts of the body. Typical symptoms include shortness of breath, difficulty breathing when lying flat and swelling in the legs or ankles.
In Slovenia 30,000 people suffer from the condition, with 3,000 new cases registered every year. The most common prescribed treatment is a combination of medication, a strict diet and a special exercises regime. Although the condition improves for many patients with this treatment, there is still a fair share of those whose state gets worse, the hospital said.
Apart from the artificial heart, other surgical methods of treating the condition include heart transplants and the insertion of left ventricle assist devices.
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