Surgical Results of the First Pre-designed "Heart Team" in Israel: One-Year Follow-up - The 63rd Annual Conference of the Israel Heart Society in association with the Israel Society of Cardiothoracic Surgery 12-13 April 2016, David Intercontinental Hotel, Tel-Aviv, Israel

Offer Amir ¹ Erez Kachel ¹ Abbed-al-Wahab Darawshe, ¹ Marwan Armaly ¹ Roman Altshuler ¹ Eyal Nachum ² Amgad Shalabi ² Leonid Sternik ² Alexander Lipey ² Diab Sammer ¹ Alexander Kogan ² Diab Ghanim ¹ Fabio Kuzniec ¹ Shemy Carasso ¹ David Meerkin ¹ Ehud Raanani ²

¹Cardio-Vascular Division, Poriya Medical Center & Faculty of Medicine, Bar-Ilan University, Tiberias
²Cardiothoracic Surgery Department, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer& Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv

Background: With nowadays technology, there is wider range of options in treating cardiac patients via interventional and/or surgical solutions. Therefore, it is acknowledged that collaboration between cardiologists and cardiac surgeons should be much tighter than in the past.

Accordingly, upon establishment of the cardio-thoracic surgery unit within the cardio-vascular division at the Poriya Medical Center in collaboration with the Cardiac Surgery Department at Sheba Medical Center, "Heart Team" (HT) framework concept was created at the projects commencement.

Methods: Cardiology and surgical team jointly recommend the nature of a therapeutic intervention and its timing. Intervention patients were admitted directly into designated CCU beds and were under the care of a combined team including cardiology, cardiac surgery and nursing staff that was meticulously trained.

Daily HT assessment of all the surgical and non-surgical CCU patients is performed with all disciplines providing input and having access to all facilities (including cath labs and echo suites) without delineation based upon the physician or type of intervention performed. This also included complex structural intervention; TAVI and Mitraclip included. Mutual discussions and honorable debates were the rule.

Results: Over an 8-month period 88 surgical procedures (CABG/ Valves/ Aorta, 11- hybrid) were performed. Mean age was 65 + 3 {79 males (70%)}, mean euro score II was 2±2%.

Thirty days Death/Stroke/myocardial infarction rate was 3 (2.8%), no tamponade, 1 reopen (1%), 2 (2%) deep sternal wound infection-treated conservatively.

Conclusions: We present our preliminary results in implementing the HT concept, pre-designed as such for the very first time in Israel. We believe our data supports the notion of a HT based upon combined personnel, with cardiologists & cardiac surgeons successfully collaborating in a joint milieu. Executing the HT principles is a necessity in meeting the challenges presented by complex cardiac candidates in today`s world of advancing technologies.