India

MUMBAI: Heart attack at 23 years of age seems so improbable that Rakesh (name changed), who works with a cost accounting firm in Goregaon, didn't consider it as a cause for the tightness he felt in his chest on waking up on July 4.It was while walking out of Nesco Goregaon Metro stop a few hours later that the Kandivli youngster suffered an "unbearable pain" and slumped to the floor.In a city where roughly 30 people die every day due to heart attack, Rakesh's heart attack has, however, had a happy ending: He is among the 100-odd patients in the city to have got access to laser to "vaporise" the blockage in his artery.

"The blood vessel that was completely blocked seems as good as new," said cardiologist Dr Ganesh Kumar who performed the laser angioplasty on Rakesh at L H Hiranandani Hospital, Powai.Rakesh not only smokes, which is a risk factor for heart attack, but he has a strong family history as well; his father got a fatal attack when he was 38 in 2008.The main medical benefit of the laser angioplasty for Rakesh is that he didn't need a stent as most patients with heart problems or heart attack would do.

"We avoided a stent as he is young.

Moreover, the plaque that led to the clot in his case was most possibly very new and small, unlike in older patients,'' said Dr Kumar, who has used it on 10 patients since the hospital bought the laser machine less than two months ago.Laser angioplasty made a quiet entry into Mumbai in February 2021 in the midst of the Covid pandemic.

Breach Candy Hospital bought the machine and has already used it on over 100 patients.

Cardiologist Dr Kirti Punamiya, who has just submitted a medical research paper on the outcome of laser angioplasty on 90 lesions in 75 patients, calls laser a facilitator."It burns the clot and makes angioplasty easier for the patient.

A stent can be easily placed in the affected portion of the artery after a part of the plaque or clot is ablated,'' said Dr Punamiya.

While cardiologists have other methods of removing deposits from arteries, he said the laser way seems the easiest for the patient.However, Dr Punamiya said lasers are not a substitute for balloons or stents (tiny, drug-coated metal scaffolding) that are the standard way of fixing blocked arteries.

"Laser helps doctors when they have to perform a complex angioplasty or a patient has developed restenosis (narrowing of the artery previously treated with a stent)," he said.Dr Praveen Chandra from Medanta Hospital Gurugram, said the laser also helps patients needing a long portion to be stented or having a narrow blood vessel.

"Laser is at present only meant for a subgroup of patients with complicated blockages and not for every patient,'' said Dr Chandra, who said he had led the first trial in laser angioplasty in India over five years.Laser treatment for the heart is available at 19 hospitals across the country, but only half a dozen centres in Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai use it actively, said the doctors.While it has been around for a couple of decades, there have been phases of high interest.

At present, there is renewed interest in it in India because of the increase in the incidence of heart attack among people under 40 years of age, said Dr Kumar.

In Rakesh's case, Dr Kumar said the clot was too thick for the guidewires to penetrate.

"We then told Rakesh's family and office administrators that we could try the laser to break the clot, but it is an expensive procedure.

The office agreed and we used four bursts of the laser to vaporise the clot," he said.

Rakesh is now on blood thinners and medications to keep his heart disease in check.The laser component can add Rs 1.5 to 2.5 lakh to the medical bill.

"But with a growing number of youngsters below 30 years getting heart attacks, the laser offers an alternative,'' said Dr Kumar.

For older patients, however, laser alone is unlikely to suffice.Rakesh, who was taken to the Powai hospital because its outreach centre is next to the metro station where he collapsed, now has a new mission: to not smoke again.





Unlimited Portal Access + Monthly Magazine - 12 issues-Publication from Jan 2021


Buy Our Merchandise (Peace Series)

 


Contribute US to Start Broadcasting



It's Voluntary! Take care of your Family, Friends and People around You First and later think about us. Its Fine if you dont wish to contribute and if you wish to contribute then think about the Homeless first and Feed them. We can survive with your wishes too :-). You can Buy our Merchandise too which are of the finest quality.

Debit/Credit/UPI

UPI/Debit/Credit

Paytm


STRIPE





53