Hyderabad: A two-day `Heart Failure Summit -
2009` is being held here on Saturday and Sunday.
Experts from the state and the world are discussing the
increasing prevalence of heart failure and optimal management
options from physiology to pharmacology to medical devices.
The summit`s special focus is on Cardiac Resynchronization. It
is being held in collaboration with Medtronic.
Disclosing this at a press conference here today Dr
Narasimhan, Care Hospital, Dr Harikrishna Tandri from John
Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore and Dr Andre
D Avilla from Mount Sinai Hospital New York said that the
summit will bring together an exclusive group of over 200
leading physicians from Hyderabad, Vijaywada, Bhubaneswar,
Visakhapatnam, who share the same passion of treating heart
failures in India with the use of cardiac resynchronization
therapy and implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator Therapy for
rescuing the heart.
For the first time, the summit will be transmitted live
from Hyderabad to Vijaywada, Visakhapatnam (Vizag) and
Bhubaneswar. Dr Narsimhan explained that the summit will
provide evidence-based recommendations from experts which will
aid in optimizing the management from path physiology to
pharmacology to medical devices with a special focus on
Cardiac Resynchronization therapy and implantable cardioverter
defibrillator.
Dr Narsimhan said that Cardiac Resynchronization therapy
offers a new hope for patients with moderate to severe heart
failure. The therapy has been proven to benefit the patients
by giving them symptomatic relief and restoring their ability
to perform their daily activities. The therapy also helps in
reducing hospitalizations and also extending life for heart
failure patients.
The implant procedure is a simple operation done under
local anesthesia and the patients are discharged within next
few days. More than 2,000 patients have benefited so far
receiving this therapy in India over the last four years, he
added. Heart failures effect 22 million people and accounts
for 64 billion pounds in cost each year worldwide.
It is the leading cause of hospitalization among people
aged 65 years and older and admissions for its symptoms have
increased by 155 per cent over last 20 years. He said that
heart failure is the only major cardiac disorder that is
increasing in prevalence.
Dr Narsimhan pointed out that the common symptoms seen in
heart failure patients are shortness of breath, swelling in
the feet, inability to lie straight on bed, frequent
urination, swollen or tender abdomen and loss of appetite can
manage heart failure, but often despite optimal medical
therapy patients witness worsening of symptoms and have to be
frequently hospitalized. There are many drugs that can manage
heart failure.
In certain subsets of these patients they get a
discordinated motion of the lower chambers of the heart. In
such cases, Cardiac Resynchronization therapy restores the
coordinated motion of the lower chambers and thus improves
the pumping capacity of the heart. This, in turn, increases
the amount of blood being pumped out of the heart resulting in
symptomatic relief for these heart failure patients,
Dr Narsimhan explained.
PTI