In a bid to plan a “counter-attack” on heart attacks, cardiologists are gathering crucial intelligence during the “Attack the Heart Attack Week”, being conducted in response to a call given by the Trans-catheter Cardiology Therapeutics-India (TCT).
The information gathered from interventional cardiologists in all the 13 districts in the State from July 25 to 31 would be incorporated into the National PCI (Percutaneous Coronary Intervention) Registry.
Addressing a press conference, TCT-India national coordinator and vice-president of Andhra Pradesh Super Specialty Hospitals’ Association (ASHA) P. Ramesh Babu, Aayush Hospitals MD K. Gopala Krishna and Cardiology HoD, NRI General Hospital, John Satish, said that Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI), which is also known as urgent balloon angioplasty, was performed in 90 per cent of the heart attacks in the West.
This life-saving procedure was currently available only to 8 to 13 per cent of the persons who suffered heart attacks in urban areas and in other areas it was as low as 2 per cent.
In an attempt to evaluate the situation and improve coordination, TCT had given a call to “collect authentic data” on the causes for heart attack, time taken for treatment, pain to door (time taken for the patient to reach hospital), time taken from door to needle (thrombolysis) or door to balloon (angioplasty) and other important information.
Interventional cardiologists will share the information on PCIs performed during the week and it would be sent to the National Registry for analysis.
“Emergency angioplasty [primary PCI] was the recommended treatment for all heart attacks because in 50 per cent of the cases the blocks in the coronary arteries do not open up when treated with thrombolytic injections,” Dr. Ramesh Babu said.
The “Attack the Heart Attack Week” was an attempt to take a snapshot of what was happening in the country to collect accurate data to build programmes and strategies, the specialists said.
