 |
|
|
|
| Tsunami
Baby Born at AIMS |
 |
13 September, 2006 - Priya and
her husband were tsunami victims in 2004. They had lost their
two children to the sea. Prior to the tsumani, Priya had undergone
fallopian-tube ligation as a form of permanent contraception
and could not conceive again, but today at 12:16 pm at AIMS
Priya delivered a healthy baby girl. |
 |
| Successful
Procedure On Lips Having Haemangiomo |
| 10 September, 2006 - Proceeding
where other hospitals were afraid to tread, Dr. Moni Abraham
Kuriakose and Dr. Subramoni Iyer of the Head & Neck Surgery
Department performed a successful procedure on a girl having
haemangiomo to reduce the size of her lips. |
|
Cardiology
Cathlab Team Implants Free ICDs
and Pacemakers in 21 Patients
|
Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) |
19 January, 2006
- The Adult Cardiology Catheterization Laboratory recently
implanted several high cost, Implantable Cardioverter
Defibrillators (ICD) which had been donated by
Project Pacer International. A total
of 21 patients underwent successful implantation of 10
ICDs, 2 CRT devices and 9 Pacemakers. A team of doctors
from AIMS, headed by Dr. K. U. Natarajan
and Dr. Prakash Kamath, the Cardiac Arrhythmia
and Electrophysiology specialists, performed the implantation
of these devices, along with Dr. Roy John,
MD, PhD, and Dr. David Martin, MD from
the Lahey Clinic, Burlington, Massachusetts.The
patients included a eleven year old child whose heart
defect was previously closed surgically. Ms. Kathlean
Malewiki, the Cathlab Nurse Manager of Lahey
Clinic, who had put in extra efforts to obtain the various
devices and accessories from the manufacturers, supported
the implantation along with the AIMS nursing team headed
by Mrs. July Eldo, and the Cathlab Technical
Team, lead by Mr. Shinto Joseph.
Dr. Muthukumar provided the anaesthetic
support for the implantation procedures. |
| Pacemakers and defibrillators are life
saving devices used in patients with life threatening,
slow or fast rhythm disorders of the heart. These compact
electronic devices are implanted in the chest wall and
are connected to the heart using electrical cables called
leads. The devices are capable of continuously monitoring
the electrical rhythm of the heart and deliver appropriate
therapy after analyzing the rhythm. In patients with only
slow heart rate due to disorder of electrical conduction,
pacemakers supplement the electrical stimulation. Some
patients develop heart failure due to lack of synchronous
mechanical pumping of the heart. For these patients, more
advanced pacemakers deliver Cardiac Resynchronization
Therapy (CRT), thereby decreasing their rate of heart
failure. Some of these smart devices also can additionally
monitor the fluid accumulation in the body due to worsening
of the heart failure and alert the patient to contact
the cardiologist for adjusting the medications. In the
recent clinical trials Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy
has been shown to improve pumping ability of the heart,
reduce repeated hospitalization and improve the survival.
Some patients with heart disease such as those with
previous large heart attacks or primary heart muscle
disease called cardiomyopathies, as well as those with
certain congenital electrical disorders of heart (called
Long QT Syndrome or Brugada Syndrome, etc.), have a
high risk of dying suddenly due to fast heart (Ventricular)
rate. Such patients need to be treated immediately after
the onset of these episodes called Ventricular Tachycardia.
Otherwise the rhythm tends to degenerate into a chaotic
state called Ventricular Fibrillation leading to cardiac
arrest. Therapy for such a state is delivered by the
Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD). These
devices terminate the episodes either by pacing the
heart briefly at a faster rate, i.e. Anti Tachycardia
Pacing (ATP) or by delivering an appropriate DC shock.
Currently a large number of ICDs are implanted every
year all over the world.
The cost of these devices varying from about Rs. 60,000/-
for a simple single chamber pacemaker, to about Rs.
1,50,000/- for a dual chamber pacemaker. The cost is
about Rs. 4,50,000/- for CRT or ICD and about Rs. 9,00,000/-
for a combination of CRT and ICD. Such high cost makes
these devices beyond the reach of most of the patients
in India.
Project Pacer International is an
organization operating from Boston, USA, which tries
to provide these expensive life-saving devices free
of cost to deserving patients who cannot afford these
devices. They collect these devices from the manufactures
as donations and work in tandem with charitable organizations
in countries like India, Boliva, etc., for implantation
of these devices in deserving patients. AIMS had earlier
partnered with Project Pacer in year 2001 to provide
free pacemakers and defibrillator to 13 patients.
As a part of the Programme, an educational symposium
was hosted by Medtronic India Ltd. at theTaj Residency
on 17th January, where Dr. Roy John and Dr. David Martin
delivered guest lectures highlighting the current status
of management of patients with heart failure and atrial
fibrillation. Following the lectures, Dr. K. U. Natarajan
moderated an interesting case discussion about successful
use of cardiac resynchronization therapy in a Srilankan
patient with severe heart failure. The Symposium was
well attended by the leading Cardiologists, Cardiac
Surgeons and Senior Physician of Ernakulam who actively
participated in the discussion. |
|
|
|
|
|
