Page 29 - UHN's Year In Review 2013-14: Courage is Daring to Lead
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surgery & Critical Care
Saving lives: Canada’s largest, most comprehensive PTE program
Things really came to head for Payne’s timing was perfect.
Gordon Payne in the winter of Dr. de Perrot had spent the
2005 when he picked up a load previous year in France training
of firewood. to perform the difficult-to-
learn Pulmonary Thrombo-
The 68-year-old farmer, an
“ordinary guy” from Pontypool, endarterectomy or PTE, a
Ont., had been ignoring his complicated specialized
aches and pains and putting off surgery for treating patients
going to the doctor. with Payne’s problem.
“When I went to unload that ‘Someone had to be first’
wood, I just couldn’t do it. I felt On Aug. 30, 2005, Payne
totally sick and totally out of underwent the first PTE
breath,” Payne recalled. procedure at Toronto General
Hospital, performed by
Half a heart Dr. de Perrot.
After a week of tests at the local
hospital, doctors told him only “It was risky, but someone had
half of his heart was working. to be first,” said Payne, who,
today, at 76, is going strong –
He was diagnosed with still going to the market and
pulmonary hypertension, a rare, doing a little farming.
life-threatening disorder of the
blood vessels in the lungs. Cooling the body
The PTE procedure involves
“I thought I was done for it cooling the body to about 20
and should settle up with my degrees Celsius. This is so
maker,” said Payne. doctors can safely stop the
Then someone recommended heart and lung circulation and
a doctor who might be able to drain the blood out of the lungs.
help him: Dr. Marc de Perrot, During that time, Dr. de Perrot
a thoracic surgeon at Toronto uses a magnifying telescope
Toronto General Hospital is the only hospital in Canada that offers a full range of options for patients with pulmonary hypertension, including a General Hospital. to carefully remove the inner
world-class pulmonary thromboendarterectomy (PTE) program, an excellent medical program and lung transplantation. (Photo: UHN)
28 29
Saving lives: Canada’s largest, most comprehensive PTE program
Things really came to head for Payne’s timing was perfect.
Gordon Payne in the winter of Dr. de Perrot had spent the
2005 when he picked up a load previous year in France training
of firewood. to perform the difficult-to-
learn Pulmonary Thrombo-
The 68-year-old farmer, an
“ordinary guy” from Pontypool, endarterectomy or PTE, a
Ont., had been ignoring his complicated specialized
aches and pains and putting off surgery for treating patients
going to the doctor. with Payne’s problem.
“When I went to unload that ‘Someone had to be first’
wood, I just couldn’t do it. I felt On Aug. 30, 2005, Payne
totally sick and totally out of underwent the first PTE
breath,” Payne recalled. procedure at Toronto General
Hospital, performed by
Half a heart Dr. de Perrot.
After a week of tests at the local
hospital, doctors told him only “It was risky, but someone had
half of his heart was working. to be first,” said Payne, who,
today, at 76, is going strong –
He was diagnosed with still going to the market and
pulmonary hypertension, a rare, doing a little farming.
life-threatening disorder of the
blood vessels in the lungs. Cooling the body
The PTE procedure involves
“I thought I was done for it cooling the body to about 20
and should settle up with my degrees Celsius. This is so
maker,” said Payne. doctors can safely stop the
Then someone recommended heart and lung circulation and
a doctor who might be able to drain the blood out of the lungs.
help him: Dr. Marc de Perrot, During that time, Dr. de Perrot
a thoracic surgeon at Toronto uses a magnifying telescope
Toronto General Hospital is the only hospital in Canada that offers a full range of options for patients with pulmonary hypertension, including a General Hospital. to carefully remove the inner
world-class pulmonary thromboendarterectomy (PTE) program, an excellent medical program and lung transplantation. (Photo: UHN)
28 29
