Doctors strike delicate balance to save a Katy woman’s life and her baby’s.
Juno Evans was winded, just walking from one room in the house to another. Even when making the bed, she had to stop halfway to catch her breath.
She thought it might be related to her pregnancy.
“I just ignored it,” the Katy resident said.
Evans didn’t realize it was a cry for help — from her struggling heart.
Evans was born with a bicuspid aortic valve. Instead of having the usual three flaps of tissue, or cusps, in the aortic valve, she was part of the 1 percent of the population with only two. She was diagnosed with these congenital defects before her earliest memories. She has only vague recollections of doctors’ appointments.
Evans’ cardiologist recommended Dr. Abhijeet Dhoble, associate professor and interventional cardiologist at UTHealth Houston Heart & Vascular.
From viewing her previous echocardiogram, Dhoble knew that her aortic stenosis was at a critical stage.
He called in a team of UTHealth Houston and Memorial Hermann specialists, including cardiothoracic and vascular surgeon Dr. Anthony Estrera, vascular surgeon Dr. Rana Afifi and Dr. Poyee Tung, an adult congenital cardiovascular physician and cardiologist. Also part of the team were Dr. Baha Sibai and Dr. Michal Bartal, both maternal-fetal medicine physicians.
“This was not a one-man show,” Estrera said. “It was a huge effort by a lot of folks.”
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Published via the Houston Chronicle