Heart attack is dangerous but sudden cardiac arrest can be more fatal; Experts
KS Diwan/ royalpatiala.in/Chandigarh
As many as 200 doctors across country including from PGI attended a conference on ‘Acute Cardiovascular Care- 2019 at a hotel here on Sunday.
Rajiv Arora, additional chief secretary health, Haryana inaugurated the conference which was organized by Ojas Hospital’s Jyotiragamaya Academic Foundation.
In conference the doctors discussed about various cardiovascular emergencies and its latest guidelines to manage them.
Dr Anuarg Sharma, director –cardiology and chief interventional cardiologist and founder of Foundation spoke on acute myocardial infarction complicated by cardiogenic shock . Awareness should be spread amongst the public and primary physicians about recognizing these patients early so that these patients can be saved .
Talking on topic ‘CABG in acute MI’, Dr Virendar Sarwal, Director- Cardiothoracic Surgery at Ojas said that CABG can be given safely as emergency, urgent or staggered procedure with reasonable outcomes. Mortality has reduced from 46% to 5%. Off pump or beating heart surgery has further improved the outcomes as it avoids further swelling in the heart, he informed.
Dr Vanita Arora , a senior cardiac electrophysiologist talking about role of Automatic implantable cardioverter‑defibrillator (AICD) in prevention of sudden cardiac death (SCD) said that SCD due to ventricular arrhythmias is the leading cause of death in USA and in India. The total impact of SCD is underestimated by the general population as patient is asymptomatic. So recognising the patients who are at high risk of SCD saves lives as AICD can be implanted well in time in these patients which is like patients own emergency kit in the chest to save life.
People need to be aware that over 90% patient survive from heart attack and over 90% patient don’t survive SCD yet they are afraid of heart attack and not of SCD, this is lack of awareness, some myths which need to be corrected to facts.
Dr S Venkatesh, a senior cardiologist from Bangalore and an alumnus from PGI spoke about ‘Acute Aortic Syndrome’. He gave tips to the practitioners as to how such uncommon but potentially lethal diseases can be recognized in clinical practice.
Dr Vivek Chaturvedi a heart rhythm specialist said that acute atrial fibrillation (AF) needs immediate care with rate controlling agents and if required, blood thinners. When uncontrolled or present with heart disease it may require electrical or drug aided cardioversion. Cardioversion is a safe procedure when performed properly. Follow-up care of acute AF often needs blood thinners, when indicated, and heart rate controlling or rhythm maintaining drugs as desired. It is important to note that several of these patients do not need blood thinners on a long -term basis.
