Kims KIMS HOSPITALS RINGS THE BELL OF HOPE FOR HEART ATTACK PATIENTS WITH LIFE THREATENING HEART

Hyderabad, January 27, 2016: KIMS Hospitals in Hyderabad, which has seen pioneering accomplishments multidisciplinary healthcare, has once again garnered limelight with its more recent challenging treatment of ventricular tachycardia, the dangerous heart rhythm. The disorder assumed all the more criticality owing to the challenge that the patient had a history of heart attack.

Mr. SR (59 yrs) suffered heart attack many years ago & had undergone a bypass surgery at that time. His echocardiogram showed weakly pumping heart (EF =30%). He was doing well until one day he was rushed to a nearby hospital after he had experienced an episode of loss of consciousness. He was found to have a dangerous rhythm- Ventricular tachycardia (VT) and was revived after a shock from an external defibrillator. He was subsequently implanted with an ICD (Implantable defibrillator) to protect him from a sudden cardiac arrest. Six months later, he experienced 20 shocks in one day. He was admitted to KIMS Hospitals in Hyderabad  where he continued to experience multiple episodes of VT requiring external shocks.

A catheter-based ablation was planned but he was found to have an old clot in the ventricle, and the concern was that any manipulation of this clot might result it in migration to brain and cause a stroke. But leaving the patient in that situation would be catastrophic. At that time there was no such case reported in literature to be used as precedence. Using a 3D mapping system, Dr B. Hygriv Rao, Senior cardiologist & Director, Division of Electrophysiology at KIMS Hospitals, and his team skillfully positioned a catheter in the left ventricle avoiding the clot and by multiple radiofrequency energy burns destroyed the abnormal circuits and the VT. The patient was discharged two days later and is doing well over a year of the procedure.

Some of the patients, who survive a heart attack, months or years later can develop dangerous ventricular arrhythmias that can lead to sudden death. When numerous episodes of these abnormal rhythms occur continuously, it is life-threatening and a nightmare for the treating doctors. Advanced therapies like 3D mapping-guided radiofrequency ablation can be used where heat energy is applied by a catheter to destroy electrical circuits in the Left Ventricle of the heart. However, some of these patients have clots in the left ventricle resulting from a heart attack, so therapy by applying radiofrequency energy may not be safe, as manipulation of catheter in this area can dislodge the clot causing brain strokes. Until now there was no safe therapy for these patients except waiting for medicines to work and most of these patients usually succumb to the fast arrhythmias.

Electrophysiologists from two institutes - KIMS Hospitals, Hyderabad and University of California Los Angeles jointly published their experience in performing successful ablation of ventricular tachycardia in the presence of a clot in the ventricle. This was published in this month’s issue of the reputed “Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology”, and this is the first publication of such cases in literature. Prof. Usha B Tedrow, Associate Director, Electrophysiogy Program, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA, wrote “The authors ought to be commended on their successful management of such high-risk group of patients” in an editorial in the same journal, about this paper.

According to Dr B. Hygriv Rao, who initiated this collaborative work, this is a series of cases where patients presented in a very serious situation where survival was nearly impossible. These patients were on artificial ventilation and all medications in maximum doses were already administered. By careful planning and skillful usage of modern technology, the arrhythmias were treated and these patients were rescued. For each patient Dr Rao and his team spent six-eight hours in the cath lab, patiently mapping and destroying abnormal areas of the heart carefully avoiding the clot in the vicinity.

Cardiologists involved in treating such patients with dangerous heart rhythms can now use this information and confidently attempt to perform these life-saving procedures. The new techniques and results from this publication help cardiologists to manage heart attack patients more effectively and eventually increase their chances of survival.

 About KIMS Hospitals

KIMS Hospitals, an 1800 bed Multi Super Specialty Hospital, is the largest corporate healthcare group in Telengana and Andhra Pradesh operating five successful, fully-independent hospitals at Secunderabad and Kondapur (Hyderabad) in Telangana, Nellore, Rajahmundry and Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh. KIMS Hospitals treats more than 3 lakh people annually – more than any other private healthcare organization in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

KIMS Hospitals’ quality is certified by National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) & National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH) Accreditations. KIMS Hospitals is known for professional excellence, personalized treatment and advanced healthcare. Patients are treated with the care and respect they deserve, in an atmosphere of trust and empathy.

Department: Cardiology