*Implanted 4 LVADs, 35 ECMO
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 19: Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket, New Delhi has given a new lease of life to end stage heart failure patients.
This was stated by Dr KK Talwar, Chairman Cardiology, Max Super Speciality Hospital during a press conference here today. He was flanked by Dr Kewal Krishan, Program Incharge, Heart Transplant and Ventricular Assist Devices.
“Smoking, eating junk and less physical exercise are severely affecting today’s youth and such lifestyle results in high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes and coronary artery disease, which further leads to heart ailments. These are major risk factors for heart failure. In addition rheumatic valvular disease also continues to be an important cause of heart failure in our population”, Dr Talwar stated.
He said that the medical therapy and surgery may help but some patients continue to progress and develop end stage heart failure.
“For patients with end stage heart failure, who cannot be benefited by medical therapy, heart transplant and ventricular assist device are the only two options”, he said, adding that heart transplant is the procedure where diseased heart is removed and normal healthy heart harvested from a brain dead patient is put in patients of end stage heart failure.
Dr Kewal Krishan said “Max Hospital, Saket runs the largest heart failure program in India. The hospital has implanted 4 Left Ventricular Assist Devices (LVAD’s) 35 Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenations (ECMO) and a heart transplant. These are very high end devices, which help patients suffering from end-stage Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), to lead normal lives.
“Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) comes as the one and only route for those battling with end-stage heart failure when donor heart is not available”, he added.
He stated that in the case of end-stage heart failure when a person’s heart is too weak to effectively pump, LVAD is placed in one of the chambers of heart in the patient’s chest and helps the heart pump oxygen-rich blood throughout the body.
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