AUBMC and Legacy of Cardiac Surgery
Lebanon was the fourth country worldwide to perform open
heart surgery. In April 1959, the first open-heart procedure was performed
successfully at AUBMC on a patient with cyanotic heart disease which consisted
of an atrial septal defect and stenotic pulmonary valve. In May 1960, a locally
fabricated disc oxygenator was clinically introduced for the first time in the
Arab world to operate on a five year old boy with a congenital pulmonary valve
stenosis and an atrial septal defect.
AUBMC had maintained and nurtured this legacy over the
years, and it established the Children’s Heart Center (referred to as CHC) with
the aim of developing a comprehensive approach to the care of individuals born
with congenital heart problems. Soon after its inception in the mid-1990s, the
CHC organized a patient-registry named the Children Cardiac Registry Center
(CCRC) which by now has acquired a full-profile database on thousands of
patients, thus offering deep insight into demographics, predisposing factors,
disease status, types of treatment and outcomes. Also, this registry has
generated statistical data that is crucial for the productivity in the domain
of clinical and basic research.
Children’s Heart Center - History
The CHC is located at AUBMC, a non-profit leading research,
medical, and teaching institution in Lebanon and the MENA region. It has more
than 20 years of experience in caring for children with congenital heart
disease. Founded in 1995, Dr. Fadi Bitar and Dr. Mounir Obeid initiated
diagnostic, interventional and surgical consultancy for fetal, neonatal and
children with heart disease.
Since its inception, the CHC has served as a leading center
in Lebanon and the region providing excellence in clinical care for pediatric
CHD cases, pursuing innovation in research, and developing educational and
training programs.
Accommodating more than 3,000 patients and performing 100’s
of surgeries annually, the CHC provides diagnostic, interventional, and
surgical treatment modalities to cover the vast array of congenital heart
conditions, from the simplest heart defects involving one step interventional
repair, to complex procedures which involve multiple-step interventions.