Specialists have unanimously agreed that our petite baby elephant, Lola, has a life-threatening congenital heart defect that can only be cured by heart surgery. The operation will be carried out by a multi-disciplinary team of heart surgeons, cardiologists and anaesthetists from Munich University's departments for human and veterinary medicine.

Preparations are currently underway at Hellabrunn Zoo for the world's first elephant heart operation. Lola will be operated on as soon as the operating theatre at Hellabrunn's veterinary hospital has been kitted out for this type of surgery. This must be done quickly because without medical intervention Lola won't survive the next days and weeks.

"Although she isn't feeling well, Lola is showing her will to live. That's why we don't want to put her to sleep or to watch her die," explained Zoo Director, Dr. Andreas Knieriem. "Experience of similar heart operations in human medicine gives us hope that after successful surgery Lola will return to full health and have the typical life expectancy for an elephant."

Lola definitely won't survive long with the heart defect that was diagnosed on 18 January. The success rate for similar operations in the field of human medicine is close to 100% according to Prof. Dr. Christoph Schmitz, paediatric heart surgeon at Munich University Hospital in Großhadern. "We want to seize this opportunity. Whether it will be successful, we just don't know. But we're thinking positively," said Dr. Andreas Knieriem.

The operation is expected to take four to five hours and will be performed by a team of about ten specialists from the fields of veterinary medicine, human and animal cardiology as well as heart surgeons. The operating theatre is currently being kitted out with additional equipment such as a heart lung machine. During the operation the chest will be opened up and open heart surgery performed. A blood clot will be removed from the heart, the septum closed and most importantly a blood vessel will be repositioned. At the moment the heart isn't pumping blood correctly. Lola's is stable; she is moving about and drinking and is with the herd. However, because of the blood clot she could pass out and die at any moment. "But little Lola has a fighting spirit and that's why we're taking a chance on this operation," said Hellabrunn´s head veterinarian, Dr. Christine Gohl.

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