The joy of being born one child often accompanied by anxiety for his survival, as in the case of newborns required replacement of their renal function. “Newborns and babies up to six kilograms, until recently, we transported them abroad, where there is appropriate equipment, and this provided that the baby met the conditions, i.e. he was hemodynamically stable so his air travel was safe.” switch to “K” aware of the current situation. The fate, of course, of newborns, hemodynamically unstable, was even more difficult, since they were in the majority.

Thus, the parents of a baby born in Athens in early April were greatly relieved when they discovered that extra-renal dialysis was now available in Greece, given that this incident was not possible abroad. It’s been a while since then Children’s “Aglaya Kiriaku” it has the same machine that serves babies at the University Hospital of Padua, where it has become a second home for many families from Greece. “We purchased Carpediem thanks to a donation from the Pnoi Friends of Pediatric Intensive Care Association, which always supports us, and we provide it to all children up to six kilograms suffering from acute renal failure.” explains “K” Head of the Children’s Intensive Care Unit Aglaya Kiriakou, Aristoul Patsur.

“The causes of kidney disease can be multiple, sometimes reversible and sometimes not,” she explains. “We estimate that this machine will support 5 to 10 children per year for whom other methods, such as peritoneal dialysis, are not suitable. It will also relieve the treasury of a large financial burden.” When babies weigh more than six kilograms, depending on the state of their health, doctors have more options for treatment.

Now there is the possibility of non-renal dialysis in Greece, in the children’s hospital “Aglaya Kyriakou”.

The intensive care team at Aglaya Kyriakou has long been preparing for the Carpediem operation, which is a crossover for data in Greece. “Two colleagues went to Padua to receive training so that we would be ready when an incident happens to us,” Patsura said. “This is a method we have applied to older children with other machines.” The use of children requires special attention and constant monitoring. “Regular filter changes are necessary,” he describes, “often this process takes from 5 to 24 hours continuously, and the machine does exactly what a healthy kidney would do, automatically cleaning the body’s blood.”

Since the first case of hemodialysis coincided with the Easter holidays, the small ICU staff celebrated next to the newborn, which brought them great joy and emotion. Good interdisciplinary collaboration has been established, as the neonatologists, nephrologists and pediatric intensive care specialists of the hospital are monitoring the baby at the same time.

Lack of staff

It is recalled that the Aglai Kyriakou intensive care unit, which, as the only pediatric COVID intensive care unit in Attica, has received more than 100 minor patients, is operating like other departments of hospitals in the “red” due to a lack of medical and paramedical staff. Although there are 11 full-time positions of doctors, at the moment there are only seven “combat” positions. The management of COVID-19 has led to burnout at work for nearly all nurses, some of whom asked to be transferred to less nerve-wracking wards, with two doctors resorting to early retirement and two others falling ill. “Despite the adverse conditions, we will continue to strive for the best, but we also need the support of the state,” concludes Ms. Patsura.