A multidisciplinary team of experts from the Prince of Wales Hospital and Chinese University of Hong Kong say they successfully treated a pregnant woman with a rare case of aortic dissection last year, saving her life and those of the twins she was carrying.

The 36-year-old was admitted to the hospital due to chest discomfort and shortness of breath at 25 weeks of pregnancy. She was later diagnosed with aortic dissection, which is when the weakened wall of the aorta tears and causes blood to leak.

A 15-person team involving doctors from multiple departments completed aortic root replacement surgery in around 4.5 hours, which is half the time it usually takes to finish such a procedure.

Professor Randolph Wong Hung-leung from CUHK’s department of surgery said the case was “extremely rare” and the potential risk of death for the mother and her twins was high.

“I think it was a very dangerous condition and the team faced enormous stress because we wanted to, first of all, definitely save the patient. But of course, we would try our best to save the twins as well,” he said.

Wong said the team was formed within an hour and came up with plans to find the best treatment option for the patient.

He said the patient was able to leave the intensive care unit four days after the surgery. She had a C-section delivery and gave birth to the twins at 31 weeks of pregnancy.

Wong hopes the case raises public awareness that aortic dissection can be a deadly condition and reminds doctors of the importance of collaboration among different departments.

“A very good example for the other hospitals to borrow is we do need multidisciplinary team habits to manage patients with complex diseases.”

Wong said the hospital is also developing an AI system to recognise and diagnose aortic dissection at an earlier stage and is introducing a new device to reduce operation times.