‘India set to be heart disease capital of the world by 2010’

Dr Naresh Trehan,CEO of Medicity Gurgaon,PGI director Dr K K Talwar,Dr J P S Sawhney of Sir Gangaram Hospital,Dr Puneet Verma,executive director of Prime Heart Institute,Mohali,too,spoke on the occasion.

Dr Trehan lame-nted the continued incidence of heart disease in the country and said with over a 100 million people affected by heart-related diseases,India is set to be the heart disease capital of the world by 2010.

“The increasing prevalence of cardiac problems among the youth is becoming a serious concern,” he added.

PGI director Dr K K Talwar spoke on the problem of syncope (the incidence of fainting among children and young adults). “People prone to syncope,” he advised,“should be on a high-salt diet and drink plenty of fluids to avoid dehydration and maintain blood volume.”

Dr Puneet Verma spoke about the new advances in recreating damaged heart muscles and blood vessels by using human embryonic stem cells.

In the afternoon,Dr U P Singh and Dr Ladbans Kaur,a noted radiologist,provided a live demonstration of 3D imaging,3D echocardiography and 3D ultrasound in diagnosing heart and liver problems or other abnormalities in a foetus.

VITAL STATS
60% patients in India suffer from acute coronary syndrome,as compared to 40% in the developed world
60% of the heart attack victims in India reach hospital well after 60 minutes of the onset of the heart attack
One-fifth of heart attack victims in India get to hospital only after 12 hours
On an average,50 minutes are wasted in waiting at hospitals in India,compared to 20-30 minutes in the developed world
9% of the victims of a major heart attack die in India,compared to about 6% in the developed world

Some ‘timely’ facts
Blood flow needs to be restored within 20-40 minutes from the onset of a heart attack to avert permanent damage
Within 30 minutes of getting to hospital,a clot-buster needs to be injected to open up arteries
The best time for full recovery is the Golden Hour — the critical time of 60-90 minutes after the onset of pain
Over 2 hours of delay increases the risk of permanent damage by 40-60%.
Angioplasty is the only way out if the delay is beyond 4 hours
After 6-8 hours from the onset of pain,the heart attack is “complete”. Depending on the muscle loss,disability or death can occur