A team of 18 Duke staff, including a current Duke medical student and several DukeMed alumni, traveled to the Instituto Nacional Cardio-Pulmonar in Tegucigalpa, Honduras to perform heart surgeries. The hospital had nearly 100 patients on a waiting list for heart surgery, the majority were indigent patients with rheumatic valve disease.
The team traveled with suitcases filled with equipment needed for the surgeries, in addition to a carry-on case with a number of mechanical and bovine heart replacement valves. The Duke team is working at the Instituto Nacional Cardio-Pulmonar in the capital city of Tegucigalpa. The hospital has nearly 100 patients on a waiting list for heart valve replacement.
The full story of their trip will appear in the fall issue of DukeMed Alumni News magazine.