General cardiology services are available through expert consultant
cardiologists and associates.
Services Provided
General cardiology services include preoperative evaluation and
treatment and assessment of:
Cardiac murmurs
Adult congenital heart disease
Valvular heart disease
Rheumatic heart disease
Hypertension and related problems
Dyslipidaemia
Disease of the pericarduim
Atrial fibrillation
Supraventricular tachycardia
Infiltrative disease of the heart
Noninvasive evaluation of heart disease patients
Congestive heart failure
Inflammatory disease of the heart with endocarditis
Disease of the aorta, including Marfan's syndrome and aortic aneurysm
Other services include care for pregnant women with heart disease
Management of patients on anticoagulants
Cardiac Catheterisation Laboratory
Invasive procedures are performed regularly in the Cardiac Catheterisation Lab. Cath lab teams include highly skilled and
specialised nurses, cardiovascular and cath lab technologists. The
experienced team assists the cardiologist in providing services 24
hours a day for scheduled and emergency procedures. The Centre
provides state-of-the-art imaging equipment that visualizes and
detects coronary artery disease. The images can be stored in the
system as a guide for immediate or later treatment of the disease
process. State-of-the-art electrophysiology equipment is utilised by
the cardiologist and staff to diagnose and treat advanced cardiac
dysrhythmias (irregular cardiac rhythms).
Procedures performed in the Cardiac Catheterisation Lab include:
Angiography or angiogram, a study of blood flow in blood vessels, is
performed by an interventional radiologist to obtain information about
blood vessels. The physician places a catheter (small tube) into a
blood vessel and injects dye (contrast) in order to examine the blood
vessel under x-ray.
Angiography has been used for 40 years. Complications are infrequent.
It is imperative that the physician know if you have a history of
allergic reactions, kidney disease, diabetes, multiple myeloma or
other blood system problems because the dye can injure the kidneys.
PRIMARY ANGIOPLASTY PROGRAME
Primary angioplasty with stent implantation is now widely recognised
as the treatment of choice for acute myocardial infarction. Numerous
studies have documented the superiority of this mode of treatment over
the traditional thrombolytic therapy.
There has been a steep increase in the number of angioplasties
performed over the years. This reflects the growing confidence of
patients in our Centre.
Non Invasive Cardiology Services
A full-fledged non invasive cardiac lab with three latest generation
echo machines for adult, paediatric, fetal, trans poesophageal and
peripheral echocardiographic imaging is available.
Stress echo, Electrocardiography, 24 hours holter monitoring, Head up
Tilt testing, treadmill test are done routinely to aid in cardiac
diagnostic yield. Stress Thallium for non invasive assessment of
coronary artery disease are also available.
CT angiography the latest technique for non-invasive diagnosis of
heart disease is also now available in the hospital.
The diagnostic cardiology team performs a variety of testing
procedures, which are interpreted and correlated with clinical data to
arrive at the diagnosis.
Some of the common diagnostic procedures performed are
Echocardiography
Electrocradiogram (ECG)
Stress Echocardiography
Head Up Tilt Test
Tread Mill Test
Holter monitoring
Fetal Echocardiography
Trans Oesophageal Echocardiography
Preventive cardiology services
Prevention of heart diseases and rehabilitation of such patients as
well as a hyperlipidaemia prevention clinic with the aim to counsel
patients on the preventive aspects of heart disease in also available.
They are educated about the need to keep the various types of
cholesterol within normal levels.
Yoga Lifestyle Clinic
Yoga is an alternative system of healing, its power being widely
harnessed to prevent and treat various diseases of the heart. Yoga is
undoubtedly a reliable avenue for holistic health. Disease is a
manifestation of underlying disharmony in the mind-body domain.
Yogic way of life offers a solution to elevate the health of body,
mind and soul.
Yoga has an important role in the prevention of cardiovascular
diseases that includes recurrence of heart attacks, hypertension and
coronary heart diseases. Yoga influences the hypothalamus directly the
area of the brain, that controls the endocrine activity and helps
coronary artery disease.
A complete yoga program involves exercises (asanas), breath control (pranayama),
sleep control (yoga Nidra) and mind control (meditation), which are
the tenets for cardiac health; also the reason why cardiologists
universally recommend yoga to the patients. The curative benefits of
yoga enhance heart health, lowers blood pressure, reduce chronic
stress, boost the immune system and enhance cognitive ability.
HEALTH CHECK PROGRAMME
FOR GOOD HEALTH AND HAPPY LIVING
ISS offers comprehensive Health Check-up Schemes. Objective of this
program is promotion of health and prevention of diseases. In addition
to routine medical check-up which is recommended for people of all age
group, we offer Executive Health Check-up for all office executives
who work under rigid schedule with odd working hours. The purpose of
executive health check-up is to examine tha apparently normal people,
involved and ofter busy in their responsible jobs, so as to pick up
any abnormality at its incubation stage and thus take remedial
measures.
Emergency services
The hospital is geared up to take care of all cardiac emergencies.
Ambulance services are available to transport very sick patients. We
have facilities to transport the sick patients including those
requiring ventilatory support, pacing and intra-aortic balloon pump to
our centre.
We are able to transport the patients from any part of the tri-city
and the peripheries. All one needs to do is to get in touch with us on
our helpline numbers
Community Services
Community Services are done by free heart check up camps held every 2
months, both within and outside the city. Patients are examined by
consultants and free ECG, blood sugar and echo are done.
Heart point programme is conducted to update physicians in management
of cardiovascular disease. This is a unique programme, as it involves
keeping the general physicians informed about the latest in cardiac
diseases.
COMMON CARDIAC CONDITIONS
What Happens During a Heart Attack?
A heart attack (myocardial infarction or MI) occurs when a heart
muscle has reduced blood flow. Sometimes plaque inside heart arteries
breaks open or ruptures; a clot then can form that blocks blood flow
through the artery.
Plaque is made up of cholesterol, white blood cells, calcium, and
other components and is surrounded by a thin layer of cells. Different
things-one of which may be high blood pressure-can cause the capillary
to tear or rupture. Cholesterol then leaks out the tear and mixes with
blood in the artery and a clot is formed. This blood clot in an artery
can sometimes obstruct blood flow to the heart muscle, which causes
the heart attack.
Some heart attack symptoms may include:
Chest pain that is crushing, squeezing, or feels like a heavy weight
on the chest.
Chest pain with sweating, shortness of breath, nausea or vomiting.
Chest pain that spreads to the neck, jaw, shoulder(s) or arm(s).
Dizziness or lightheadedness.
Fast or irregular heartbeat.
Sometimes symptoms are only arm or back pain (not only chest pain).
Often pain with MI will wax or wan and may improve with rest or may
happen at rest. It is important to seek emergency care to prevent
death. SGRH cardiologists may perform an urgent angioplasty with stent
placement to open the artery and return blood flow to the heart.
See the various diagnostic tests that assess your cardiac damage.
Depending on these test results, doctors may begin treatment to reduce
heart muscle damage caused by a heart attack.
Sudden (Cardiac) Death
This describes a condition in which an individual collapses abruptly
and unexpectedly and - unlike syncope - does not recover
spontaneously. In the US, approximately 400,000 people die each year
due to sudden cardiac death - more deaths than those combined from
lung and breast cancer and AIDS.
There are many conditions that can cause sudden death such as bleeding
from a tear in the aorta (the largest artery in the body) or in the
brain. However, 90% of sudden (cardiac) death episodes are due to an
abnormal heart rhythm called ventricular fibrillation (VF). In VF the
heart rate in the lower chambers (ventricles) abruptly increases to >
250 beats per minute. Indeed the heart rhythm is extremely chaotic,
the heart pump function thus ceases, the blood pressure drops and the
patient collapses.
Unless prompt resuscitation with cardiac defibrillation (a shock) is
delivered, death occurs within minutes. Many victims of sudden cardiac
death have known heart disease (i.e., prior heart attack or myocardial
infarction, or congestive heart failure) or are at high risk for heart
disease.
Sudden cardiac death is not the same as a heart attack. In a heart
attack, one of the coronary arteries blocks up and interrupts the
blood flow to a specific region of the heart. In sudden cardiac death,
the heart rhythm abruptly becomes chaotic with ventricular
fibrillation.
Patients with known severe heart disease are at increased risk for
sudden cardiac death and should be evaluated for possible therapy with
an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD).
Atrial Fibrillation
This is a heart rhythm disorder that is so common in our population
that it deserves a special mention. This is a disorder that
principally affects people over the age of 60. The upper chambers of
the heart (atria) develop an electrically chaotic rhythm such that
these chambers can no longer mechanically pump blood. These chaotic
electrical signals cross (conduct) to the lower chambers (ventricles)
in a random, irregular fashion, giving the sensation of irregular
palpitations. In addition to feeling irregular, the pulse will usually
be quite fast, about 100 to 150 beats/minute. Episodes of atrial
fibrillation may start and stop of themselves after a few hours.
However, over time, the episodes usually last longer until eventually
they do not stop by themselves.
Treatment
The treatment of atrial fibrillation is targeted towards controlling
the fast pulse and trying to restore a normal (sinus) rhythm. Usually
medications are sufficient to control the fast pulse or to try to
prevent the heart from going into atrial fibrillation in the first
place.
To restore a normal rhythm, the cardiologist may want to do a
cardioversion, where the patient is deeply sedated and then a shock is
delivered to the heart to reset the normal rhythm.
Sometimes catheter ablation can be helpful-either to help control the
heart rate in atrial fibrillation in conjunction with a pacemaker, or
in selected younger individuals to treat abnormal electrical
connections that can trigger atrial fibrillation.
Preventing Strokes
However, the most important thing of all is to prevent a stroke. Since
in atrial fibrillation the upper chambers cannot pump any blood, blood
can stagnate in these chambers and form clots. If a clot goes to the
brain, there can be a stroke. Therefore, many patients are advised to
be on blood thinner called warfarin, (also called coumadin).
Syncope
This is the medical term for "passing out" or "fainting." During
syncope, a temporary loss of consciousness together with loss of
muscle tone (slumping over or falling) occurs, however the patient
recovers quickly and spontaneously. Syncope is due to a transient
decrease in blood flow to the brain.
There are many conditions that can cause syncope-some of which may be
related to heart disease such as certain heart valve disorders or
arrhythmia. The most common condition-the "common faint"-is due to a
transient blood pressure and/or heart rate decrease and is typically
seen in healthy individuals (for example during blood draws or painful
events).
All patients with syncope should be thoroughly evaluated especially if
they have known heart disease, as some causes for syncope can
potentially be dangerous
Arrhythmias
This is the medical term for "abnormal heart rate and/or rhythm." The
heart rhythm may be too slow (bradycardia) or too fast (tachycardia).
The abnormal heart rhythm may originate from the:
The episodes of arrhythmia may be very brief (non-sustained) or long
lasting (sustained). Factors that can cause arrhythmias are stress,
caffeine, alcohol and many forms of heart disease.
