On 29th September, World Heart Day, Dr. Ramesh, Chief Medical Officer, Kauvery Hospital, Heart City, shares valuable insights regarding the importance of staying vigilant and reaching out to an expert at the slightest hint of cardiac problem.
Understanding your heart
The heart is one of the most critical organs in our body and keeping it healthy is essential. Some conditions, such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes, as well as lifestyle factors, such as unhealthy diet, obesity, physical inactivity, and alcohol and tobacco use, can put your heart at risk. Sometimes, a tendency towards heart disease can run in families. Everyone needs to be heart smart, but it is even more critical for people who have a higher risk of heart disease to be smart and look after their hearts.
Heart smart tips
The chance of developing heart disease can be reduced by taking steps to prevent and control factors that put people at greater risk.
Some ways that you can minimize the risk of heart disease include:-
Eating a healthy diet
Maintaining a healthy weight
Exercising regularly
Limiting alcohol use
Not smoking
Keeping stress under control
Maintaining optimum blood levels
People at higher risk of heart disease need to have regular health check-ups and consult with a cardiologist. In case of any discomfort, they should get to a hospital immediately.
Today, let us take an oath to protect ourselves against heart disease!
There is no first-aid for heart attack. Patients need to be rushed to the hospital at the first suspicion of an attack. This is very important as the first three hours following the onset of an attack are called the golden hours. During these golden hours, if the patient is brought to the hospital and given proper treatment, even a massive heart attack can be reversed. Once this crucial period is past, the heart attack would have evolved, the muscles would have suffered damage and in spite of good treatment the desired result will not be possible.
In case of patients who have had a previous attack, the doctors give them a tablet called Sorbitrate for emergencies. If in spite of this tablet the pain persists, the patient has to be rushed to the hospital. Self-medication is to be prevented at all costs. What is suitable for one patient might not be suitable for another, hence consulting a doctor would be the best option.
Kauvery Heart City
A heart attack is a block (caused by a buildup of cholesterol) in the blood vessel going to the heart. Due to the block, the blood flow to the heart is reduced and as a result the lack of blood flow damages the heart muscles. The treatment for heart attack is to get the blood flowing to the heart again. The success of the treatment is dependent on treating the patient within the golden hours.
All the facilities found in hospitals across the world, be it London, Australia or New York, are all present in Kauvery Heart City. All types of angioplasty, 24-hour emergency services, latest stenting procedures, state of the art procedures to normalize BP, temporary pacemakers, etc. are all available here.
The Latest Technologies in Use at Kauvery Heart City
Kauvery Heart City is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for emergency services. It is a 100-bedded exclusive cardiac hospital; out of the 100, 35 are critical care beds. There are also two cath labs here and they incorporate the latest in technology. The advantage of the cath lab here is that the radiation emission is very low and hence the safety of the doctors and patients both are assured. The cath labs are in vicinity to twin operating theatres so that any emergency care critical patients may need can be rendered immediately. Kauvery Heart City is also licensed to perform heart transplants. Other than this, bridge-to-transplant procedures like ECMO for supporting the heart for a period of 2 weeks, LVAD and BIVAD to support the heart for more than 2 weeks are all performed here. The availability of all the aforementioned facilities at the same place make Kauvery Heart City the best place for the treatment of heart ailments.
Primary angioplasty is performed here; this procedure is performed only in 2-3 hospitals in India and Kauvery Heart City is one among them. It is not possible to perform angioplasty for all conditions, in such cases keeping stents at different valves is the preferred option and this is performed in Kauvery Heart City. Similarly, at the bifurcation of blood vessels too angioplasty is difficult to perform, but this is done at Kauvery Heart City. As the expertise and the technology needed for the treatment of hard and stone-like blocks is available here, this procedure too is performed.
Cost-wise too Kauvery Heart City being located in a tier-2 city like Trichy offers an immense advantage over all tier-1 cities. A procedure performed at any other city would cost around 1 ½- 2 times more than what is offered here. Patients eligible for CM’s welfare scheme are also treated here.
A Heartwarming Story of Patient Revival
A 50-year-old man arrived at Kauvery Heart City complaining of chest pain for the past 4 hours. He was diagnosed with anterior valve myocardial infarction, a particularly complex heart attack. In addition to that, this patient had an added complication in the form of a hole in the heart wall. This hole was the result of the heart muscles having suffered damage due to the heart attack. As a result of this hole, the pure and impure blood mix. This condition is called ventricular septal rupture and emergency surgery is the only option. The patient was immediately shifted to the cath lab, an angiogram was done and the patient was shifted to the theatre for surgery.
The surgery was a very complex one as the heart muscles were severely damaged and suturing them was tough. In addition, surgery revealed that along with the inner wall being ruptured, the outer wall too had started to decompose. So, the heart was put on artificial support and a Teflon patch was placed to close the tear in the ventricle. This complex procedure needed a lot of expertise and skill. The surgery was performed successfully and the patient was observed for the critical period of the next 3 days. A team of 5-6 people worked round the clock to ensure successful recovery. The patient recovered well and on the seventh day was ready for discharge
The doctors were extremely happy that they were able to revive the man from the brink of death and restore him back to his family.
In the Future
As of now, there is no absolute way of preventing heart attacks. However, with advancement in research (stem cell therapy) it is to be hoped that a way to prevent heart attacks would emerge soon.
Doctors’ Request
The doctors at Kauvery Heart City request people not to follow forwarded messages on the phone blindly; it is folly to believe that heart attacks can be treated with unverified home remedies. They urge people to realize the importance of immediate treatment in a condition like a heart attack; the first 3 hours can make a world of difference to a patient’s life and hence swift treatment is of paramount importance!
Watch the doctors of Kauvery Heart City talk about the various advancements in the techniques and treatment of heart attack -
Invasive surgeries invariably cause a lot of fear among patients. However, now due to the advancements in medical technology, a lot of invasive procedures are being replaced by non-invasive ones. Dr A. B. Gopalamurugan, a senior interventional cardiologist and electrophysiologist at Kauvery Hospital, specializes in using minimally invasive techniques to treat heart diseases.
Dr A. B. Gopalamurugan explains one such procedure that has replaced the traditional open-heart surgery.
The Heart Valve Disease
This disease often afflicts the elderly. As people age, their heart valves shrink. One of the most important valves, the aortic valve also shrinks with age. The blood from the heart reaches the different body parts through this aortic valve. Hence, shrinkage of this valve is a cause for concern. Earlier there was only one method of treatment for this disease and that was valve replacement; other than that, there was no other option available. Therefore, for a really long time in the past, patients suffering from this disease had to undergo an open-heart surgery. After surgery, hospitalization of nearly 10 days followed by rehabilitation was the norm. A return to normal life took patients nearly 1 ½ - 2 months.
Trans-Catheter Aortic Valve Implantation or TAVI
For the past 15 years, aortic valve disease has been treated using TAVI without the patient having to undergo open-heart surgery. This is not the only benefit of TAVI. There is now evidence from world-over that suggests that TAVI is indeed the preferable procedure for high-risk and intermediate-risk patients. Thus, for elderly patients, patients with lung disease and for patients who have a problem with general anesthesia, performing valve replacement using TAVI would be the preferred choice. TAVI not only yields the same result as open-heart surgery but the quality of life too is better after surgery. The risk of the patient suffering a stroke lessens considerably with TAVI and the recovery period is as short as 2-3 days.
Kauvery Hospital performs the maximum number of TAVI procedures in India to non-invasively replace the aortic valve.
Watch Dr A.B. Gopalamurugan enumerate the benefits of TAVI here
·Healthy and Controlled Eating: By eating a healthy diet filled with fruits and vegetables and by reducing the number of calories we consume, we can reduce the risk of developingheart problems.
·Daily Exercise: A consistent exercise program strengthens the heart. People who work out regularly definitely lower their risk of getting a heart ailment.
·Stress-Free Life: Leading a stressful life is bad for the heart and we should try to either reduce the stress or find ways to manage it effectively.
·Sugar Control in Diabetics:Diabetics are at an increased risk of developing heart diseases and control of sugar level is essential to shield the heart.
·BP Control in Hypertensive: Hypertension or increased blood pressure overworks the heart and contributes to the development of many heart problems. Hence blood pressure control is crucial to safeguard the heart.
The aforementioned pointers play a very important role in people staying heart healthy. Dr Senthil Kumar stresses that along with taking care of our heart and health we should do what we can to take care of our family members’ and friends’ heart health too. By spreading awareness on these simple yet crucial pointers we can ensure a heart healthy community.
Watch Dr Senthil Kumar himself explain the ways to stay heart healthy -
One of the common cardiac problems that patients face is shrinkage in the arteries. For many of these patients, bypass surgery is recommended. For some, angioplasty is recommended. In angioplasty, blocks are removed through a technique called angiogram.
Dr. A. B. Gopalamurugan, a senior interventional cardiologist at Kauvery Hospital, explains that the treatment plan chosen for elderly patients should be one that improves the quality of life of the patient. He says that old people might undergo an open-heart surgery and come out of it successfully but what truly matters is if after surgery their quality of life has seen an improvement.
Angioplasty as an Alternative to Bypass Surgery
Dr Gopalamurugan explains that most of the surgeries he does, feature angioplasty with highly sophisticated techniques instead of bypass surgery. Earlier, bypass surgery was the only option available to patients but now this is not the case. Unfortunately, the fact that there is an option is not known to many people. He suggests that patients get an opinion from both a cardiologist and a cardiac surgeon to arrive at what is known as a heart team decision. This decision is one that has the best interest of the patient at heart. It is one which improves the symptoms of the patient and leads to an improved quality of life for the patient. It should also be the least invasive procedure. These three factors are of paramount importance while deciding on the treatment plan.
In today’s day and age, a majority of the patients are treated without bypass surgery. However, many people are still skeptical and believe that if there is a block in the main vessel or if there are three or more blocks then bypass surgery is warranted. Dr Gopalamurugan reassures that this is not true. He says that the results of angioplasty are very similar to bypass surgery and the quality of life that the patient leads after angioplasty is even better than after bypass. There is concurrence on this from all over the world.
However, he stresses that before opting for any procedure, patients should have a thorough discussion with their cardiologist or cardiac surgeon and then decide on the best course of action.
To watch Dr Gopalamurugan, explain the advantages of angioplasty click
Also watch Dr. S. Aravinda Kumar presents insights on Cardiovascular Disorders at Trichy
