Taking care of your heart is important. More so because people with cardiovascular diseases are vulnerable to COVID-19. However, surgeries often can do more harm than good. Hence, it is preferable to go for natural bypass technique, says Dr Bimal Chhajer
Since the inception of COVID-19 pandemic, the impact due to various heart ailments seems to have subsided. Though it is known that the rate of mortality and morbidity due to heart attacks are underestimated globally, yet many countries are still facing the wrath of its mortality.
The recent data suggests that around 1.2 crore people have been infected globally, with a mortality rate of 5.4 lakh. India accounts for 7.4 lakh cases with a mortality of 20,000 till now. The statistics in comparison to the impact of Coronary Artery Diseases (CAD) and other heart ailments seems evidently low.
On an average around 20 crore people succumb to some form of heart ailment with a mortality rate of 10 per cent accounting for two crore lives lost. India being the present-day leader in terms of number of heart disease patients across the world attribute to a massive six crore people being diagnosed every year. As the numbers are still on an exponential rise, an estimate of 9000 per day seems to lose their lives suffering from heart problems, which in this current scenario seems to be avoided.
Various studies have also claimed that people with pre-existing heart conditions have a direct 11.6 per cent higher risk of mortality due to the COVID-19 infection. And co-morbidity of Diabetes and hypertension further raises the risk by upto eight folds attributing to the lowered immunity and decreased speed of body response to tackle inflammation with increased age along with viral myocarditis to some extent. There has also been a link established with increasing age, while people above the age of 60 years are four times vulnerable to death, nine times if the age is above 70 years and 15 times if the age is above 80 years.
Evidently, the rate of mortality due to COVID-19 is restricted to within 2 per cent whereas heart diseases kill over 10 per cent, and are still neglected. There are 8-10 crore (80-100 million) heart patients in India and every 10 seconds one person dies of heart disease in this country.
Why heart surgeries — natural bypass technique is useful
Hospitals in India perform more than two lakh open heart surgeries annually and are increasing annually by 25 per cent. But the cases of heart attacks are not going down. The surgeries done are only palliative. This raises a big question mark on the use of unnecessary angioplasties and bypass surgeries in India and the 10,000 Heart Hospital Industry driven by the greedy Heart Surgeons and Interventional Cardiologists. In India, more than five lakh stents are being put every year and some 60,000 bypass surgeries are being done in the heart hospitals and 85 per cent of them are done on stable heart patients — which can be easily avoided. Present day cardiologists are on the wrong track by emphasising more use of bypass surgery or angioplasty, medicines, emergency treatments — but they are overlooking the real cause of heart attack and heart disease.
Since the intervention procedure requires exposure of blood to various infection risks, it is not at all safe to undergo such a procedure when one can naturally cure themselves.
External Counterpulsation (ECP) also known as natural bypass technique is an approved mechanical process without pushing wires, and stents into the body but dilates blood vessels and enables the body to grow new blood vessels much like bypass and stem cell therapy. Most patients can walk longer distances and faster, have fewer episodes of pain in the chest and require less medication after the therapy.
The patients experience better quality of life while tests can confirm the improved cardiac status. Patients have decreased chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, tiredness as well as a significant improvement in exercise tolerance and energy. They can walk longer distances and faster more comfortably. Medication is reduced in almost all patients. Stress Thallium can picture the heart muscle’s blood flow while the new non-invasive Cardiovascular Cartography can map heart’s blood flow and study the Oxygen demand reserve ratio, blood vessel elasticity and myocardial burden.
Lifestyle management is the key
Yoga and diet based lifestyle management along with Optimum Medical Management is the key to the solution of heart diseases. Not only that they are highly effective for a healthy heart, but also prevent Bypass surgery or Angioplasty. Cardiac ailments being a lifestyle related ailment and hence the treatment should also be focused in the same direction. While cardiac ailments remain to be a growing burden in the Indian society, affecting millions of people and the economy of the country, it is time to eradicate them from the root.
The writer is Director, SAAOL Heart Center (Ex-Consultant AIIMS)