“All three had to be used together — there was no way to just use one to work out what was going on,” said Ahmed. “A lot of it was just the way it felt when you were in the aneurysm, you just had to feel your way around there and that’s something imaging can’t really tell you, but imaging was absolutely critical for this case.”

It’s been four months since the procedure and Philpot is doing well. He’s exercising regularly and his physician is monitoring his heart and frequently checking for fluid retention.

Ahmed will be publishing this case in a journal in the near future. “For the scientific community we are going to write up the technical details of the case, now that he has done so well after so many months,” he said.

For physicians who may face a case like this in the future, Ahmed’s best advice is for them to be well prepared. Even though he has so much experience with cardiac procedures, he credits his consultations with Law, at Children's of Alabama, with helping him build a plan he felt confident about.

He also thinks it’s important to have an adequate and focused team to work alongside. “You don’t want to be taking on a case like this if you don’t have the kind of team that is able to take this on,” he said.

The last pieces of advice he gave were to be very careful in planning what equipment you’ll need ahead of time and to not rush the procedure in any way.

“Don’t rush; take as much time as needed, have a lot of patience and just take your time,” said Ahmed. “Don’t get so frustrated in such cases, work your way around it and just try and keep things as safe as possible for the patient.”

Back to HCB News

Cardiology Homepage