New Delhi: With adaption to sedentary lifestyle, consumption of alcohol, smoking, minimal or no exercise regime, coupled with ignorance and lack of access to quality care, growing number of individuals, even young professionals are falling prey to various heart diseases. In addition, heart disease is responsible for the highest mortality across the globe for both men and women of all races.
According to a Lancet report, heart ailments caused more than 2.1 million deaths in India in 2015 at all ages, or more than a quarter of all deaths.
- An alarming trend being observed in terms of heart health is Structural heart disease. It is identified as a set of different cardiac diseases like CAD (Coronary Artery Disease), Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, Heart Failure and Congenital Heart Disease.
- Another set of fatal diseases are Brain attack (also known as stroke) & Parkinson’s disease which need awareness about their key symptoms, preventive measures and treatment among the general public.
- The stroke incidence rate in India is much higher than in other developing countries with approximately 1.8 million Indians out of a population of 1.2 billion suffering from stroke every year and therefore, proving the gap between the treatment available and the level of understanding the subject.
- Parkinson’s disease on the other hand is a less occurring but a serious nervous disorder identified slow movement, stiffness and loss of balance.
Press Conference By Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket
In order to raise awareness about these diseases and numerous advancements in treatment in the respective fields, Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket organised a press conference today in Kanpur.
One part of the session led by Dr. Viveka Kumar, Principle Director & chief of Cath labs (PAN Max) Cardiac Sciences, Max Heart & Vascular Institute Saket revolved around TAVR and how transformational it is as a technique for cardiac patients who cannot undergo a surgery due to their condition.
Transcatheter Aortic Valve replacement (TAVR)
Transcatheter Aortic Valve replacement (TAVR) is a procedure where Aortic valve is implanted via peripheral arterial access. Mostly, the procedure is carried out in conscious sedation and the patient is discharged within 2-3 days. With the initial development aimed at patients not fit for Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement (SAVR), the trials showed favourable results. Furthermore, TAVR has now established itself as the most suitable line of treatment for such patients and the international guidelines also endorse this with class I recommendation.
Talking about TAVR and Structural Heart Disease intervention in the session, Dr. Viveka Kumar, Principle Director & chief of Cath labs (PAN Max) Cardiac Sciences, Max Heart & Vascular Institute Saket says, “Aortic valve is the valve through which the blood travels from the heart to the systemic circulation. Narrowing of this valve hugely affects the cardiac output and is compensated by increased hypertrophy and contractility. For a long time, the patient may be asymptomatic but with development of symptoms the prognosis changes adversely. Around 34% of the patients may die suddenly. SAVR carries a surgical mortality risk of around 3-8% and thus, its prohibitively higher in high risk patients.
Since, the degenerative AS patients are elderly, they often carry serious comorbidities like renal disease, pulmonary disease, liver disease, previous heart surgeries or they be severely frail. All these factors may make SAVR high risk or prohibitive. It is not a surprise that about 30% of elderly AS patients never undergo SAVR because of these reasons, portending unfortunate outcomes. Now with success in AS patients’ similar technology is being evolved for mitral valve, pulmonary valve and even the tricuspid valve. The initial results are encouraging. Mitral valve replacement and pulmonary valve replacements are already being done in selected patients.”
Increasing Incidence of Brain Attack and Parkinson’s Disease
The other part of the session led by Dr. Puneet Agarwal, Director – Neurology (Stroke & Dementia) widely spoke about the increasing incidence of Brain Attack and Parkinson’s Disease in the country and how lack of knowledge about these among the general public might lead to a fatal situation. The session further highlights that in last few years, there has been drastic improvement in the outcome of patients of Brain Attack & Parkinson disease with the introduction of newer drugs & surgeries with latest technologies. WHO & World stroke organization has used a mnemonic ‘FAST’ for Brain Attack where in F denotes Face weakness, A denotes Arm Weakness, S denotes Difficulty in speech & T denotes time to get the treatment. Patients experiencing these key symptoms should immediately rush to the hospital within a span of 6 hours (also known as the Golden period) to get clot busting injection and move forward to have a quick recovery.
Speaking from his own experience, Dr. Puneet Agarwal, Director – Neurology (Stroke & Dementia), Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket says, “In my tenure with Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket, I have successfully treated more than 800 patients of acute brain attack using newer treatment approach and the late coming patients with injection Botox and intensive Nuro rehabilitation like robotic therapy available at the hospital. Parkinson’s patient has gradually progressive resting tremors (Shivering) of the hands and slowness of daily activities of life and gaits difficulty. These patients can be treated effectively nowadays with newer drugs & DBS surgery at the hospital. The unit has state of the art facilities to treat complicated cases of Brain attack & Parkinson disease very successfully.”
Over the years, Max Healthcare has been actively working towards offering international standard of healthcare facilities in different regions across the country. The leading healthcare player organizes numerous health-camps, OPDs and screening camps in different part of North India.