Cutting Edge Solutions for Heart Problems

It is common knowledge that heart diseases account for a significant amount of deaths and limitation of the quality of life. Since the advent of effective treatment strategies for heart attack in the 1970’s, research into the causative factors of heart conditions and ways to refine the treatment options have been proceeding at a very rapid pace.

Along with the knowledge about the pathological process leading to the heart attack (In French attaque cardiaque)came the information about the risk factors – primarily diabetes, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and smoking. Consequently, due to effective drugs and control of the risk factors, a decrease in the load of heart diseases was expected. Surprisingly, this has not been achieved. Analysis of this apparent paradox has revealed that this is primarily due to better diagnostic techniques, which would have been missed a few decades earlier. In other words, the earlier data revealed only the part of the case load.

A lot of effort is invested on methods which detect risk factors, disease of the coronary (heart) arteries, abnormal heart muscle functioning, all at a very early stage and in a non-invasive manner. Thus we hear about 64 slice and now 128 slice CT scans, SPECT (single positron emission CT), combination of the two processes, and use of different materials for radio-labeling. With the use of these techniques, even a very small obstruction to blood flow or minimally altered heart muscle function can be detected. Thus, conditions leading to heart failure (In French insuffisance cardiaque) are picked up at a very early stage and adequate corrective actions are undertaken.

Further, there is constant refinement of the therapeutic modalities, especially angioplasty techniques involving stets, which helps prevent cell death. There is a lot of interest in the role of stem cells in the repair of dead heart muscle cells. And finally in conditions where the heart problem is such that a lot of heart tissue is dead and not functioning, new devices which help the heart contract better are being invented and undergoing trials.

A natural consequence of detection and treatment early in the course of heart problems along with newer and better treatment options for advanced diseases is that the final outcome is much better and the burden of heart diseases on the society is reduced.