ANGIOPLASTY THROUGH HAND COULD SAVE MORE LIVES

“Opening of blocked heart vessels (arteries) that supply the heart muscle is called Angioplasty. Blockages in these arteries reduce the blood supply to the heart, causing chest pain (angina). Sudden complete blockage can lead to a heart attack, in which the heart muscles start dying. Therefore, it becomes imperative to open these blocked arteries quickly. Conventionally this is done through an artery in the leg,” said Dr Asif Hasan, Head of the Department of Cardiology, Aligarh Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University.

“The new route to the heart goes through the artery of the “wrist” (hence called “radial”). I also use the back of the patient’s hand to perform their angioplasty (distaltransradial angioplasty)  which we found to be equally successful in our Data Star study , published recently in the Indian Heart Journal.

“For the benefit of patients, we participated in a workshop of angioplastythrough handat the Medical College , Aligarh, AMU,  because not only is  the hand thesafest route for angioplasty, with no risk of  bleedingor risk to the patient’s arm ; the patient’s survival chances are betterand risk of dying is ~50% less compared  angioplastydone through the leg, especially in acute ( as in heart attack ) and seriously ill patients ” said Dr Sanjay Chugh MD, DM Cardiology, AIIMS, New Delhi, a Senior Consultant and Associate Director of Interventional Cardiology at Narayana Hospital, Gurugram, a well -known pioneer of Angioplasty through hand and author of a book on the subject.