High-tech angioplasty clears most heart blocks
Cardiologists today can send high-power devices through a patient’s arteries to fix heart disorders once needing a surgeon’s attention.
Staff writer | GDCS; 21 July, 2021
Many heart specialists in India are now preferring the minimally invasive angioplasty over bypass surgery to clear blockages of the heart. Patients, too, are not behind in saying yes to it!
In India alone, 800,000 angioplasty procedures are done every year, according to the National Interventional Council (NIC) data, 2021.
It is a safer procedure than surgery, and an effective one too, says the leading Interventional Cardiologist from Kerala, Dr Prathap Kumar, who is also the Scientific Chairman of the NIC. It also saves time and money for the patient, since it means having him spend lesser time in the hospital.
A patient is usually back home in 3 to 4 days. He is back to work in 15,” says Dr Prathap.
On the money side, the average cost of angioplasty in India ranges from Rs 1.2 to Rs 1.6 lakh. At some of the government-run hospitals where Dr Prathap helps subsidise the procedure, the cost to patient does not exceed Rs 65,000. On the other hand, the average cost of a coronary bypass surgery — the procedure still encouraged by some doctors as the be-all solution for heart blockages — could cost between Rs 2 and Rs 4.5 lakh.
Angioplasty
Angioplasty entails remotely guiding a corrective device through an artery in the patient’s body to the blocked vessel supplying blood to his heart. The device, which consists of high-pressure balloons, drills and stents, has the job of clearing the blockage in the vessel, and then, of keeping the vessel open.
Unlike in a bypass or an open-heart surgery, where the patient’s chest must be cut open, angioplasty is performed either through a needle prick in his wrist or in his groin.
Whereas it is true that earlier versions of angioplasty were not effective against hardened blocks, technological advancements have changed that. Now, there are high-performance equipment for the job, says Dr. Prathap.
Avoiding bypass surgery
Dr Prathap has 18,000 angioplasties to his credit. Many of those patients were in a bad condition when they landed before him. Yet, he didn’t have to “send them off to surgery”.
“We could not only save the patients... but also put them right back on their feet,” he says, implying that the healing had been just as effective!
The play of numbers
On the one side is the human dimension of the story being told here — mostly undisputed, and clearly favouring angioplasty. On the other side is the statistics, oddly interpreted.
“The reading of statistics has seemed like comparing apples to oranges,” rues Dr Prathap.
Bypass surgery has been around for the longest time, and hence, the stats on it are far more evolved. The stats on angioplasty, on the other hand, are still being gathered and consolidated, he says.
People’s health in people’s hands
All said, it would finally be for the patient to stay yes or no to angioplasty. If his situation is dire, he wouldn’t have a choice in the matter other than to accept what the first available doctor tells him to do. However, such patients would always be fewer in numbers. “Not more than 10 to 15 per cent...,” says Dr Prathap.
The others would always have the time to consult another expert. “If a surgery is recommended, seeking out an experienced cardiologist for a second opinion would be just the thing to do, says Dr Prathap.
The advice needs to be taken in the light that an angioplasty is done by a cardiologist, and a bypass surgery is performed by the cardiac surgeon.