By Katalina Siasau
Ten life-saving pacemaker surgeries were performed this week, at Vaiola Hospital in Nuku’alofa by a visiting team of four volunteer medical professionals from New Zealand.
The team includes Cardiac Physiologist and team leader, Bridget McIlraith; Cardiologist Dr. Daniel Garofalo; Cardiac Physiologist Liane Dawson; and Cardiac nurse Elise Cuff, who are a part of the Pacific Islands Pacemaker Services (PIPS).
A pacemaker surgery is "for a patient that's got a slow heart rhythm, and defibrillators for those patients that have got faster, more dangerous life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias," Bridget told Matangi Tonga in an interview today, at Vaiola Hospital.
The team performed ten pacemaker surgeries on seven males and three females, aged between their mid-fifties to eighty years.
At the same time, the team ran clinics to check pacemaker implants in Tongan patients, and implantable defibrillators in the community here.
"We implemented the pacemakers for complete heart block and sick sinus syndrome. We also did one cardioversion for atrial fibrillation," said Bridget.
They saw about 60 patients across two clinics, Dr. Daniel in cardiology, and Liane and Bridget in pacemakers.
Outer islands patients
Some patients came from the outer islands for the clinics and surgery.
There were seven pacemaker clinic patients, and seven cardiology review patients. Meanwhile, there were five surgery patients, four new implants, and a battery change.
However, Bridget said a few patients from the outer islands had missed the opportunity to come and see them in Nuku'alofa, due to the severe storm in Tongatapu over the weekend.
Pacemaker battery
A pacemaker battery lasts around 10 years, depending on how much it is used, Bridget noted.
"It's very important that when you have a pacemaker implanted, that you keep coming back to clinics to have it checked to make sure that it is working properly for the heart rhythm, and to check the battery to make sure that we know when to replace it."
Bridget said they left an iPad with a little communicator at Vaiola Hospital, which the local team can use to do a download from a pacemaker, and to send that information to New Zealand, where they can interpret and advise on how the pacemaker is working.
"But we still need to, at the moment, keep coming back every year to check the pacemakers because there is lots of different types of pacemakers, and not every one can be used on the iPad," she added.
Bridget said they will do a virtual post-surgical follow up in two weeks, with Dr. Akanesi Latu at Vaiola Hospital.
All their equipment and the surgical tools that were needed to perform the pacemaker implants were brought by the team from New Zealand.
They are supported by donations from different groups in New Zealand.
The team arrived in Tonga on 18 October, and will leave tomorrow.
The next date for a PIPS visit will be early May, next year.
PIPS team
The Pacific Islands Pacemaker Service (PIPS) is an organization made up of medical professions who perform free pacemaker operations and clinics throughout Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, and Vanuatu.
The PIPS team's trip to Tonga is funded by the New Zealand Medical Treatment Scheme (NZMTS) via the Pasifika Medical Association Group (PMGA). This is the second surgical trip to Tonga from the Pacific Islands Pacemaker Service team. A team includes one cardiac nurse, two cardiac Physiologist, and Cardiologist per trip.
