Dr.S.Venkatesan MD

Yes, Medicine is a funny science ( some don’t agree , Isn’t Art ?) Many of the noble professionals  are silently pursuing their job of saving lives and removing human suffering .Meanwhile, people like this author are needlessly bothered about some Imaginary Issues and write stuff like this one , . . that you are reading now !

Yes, there is an invisible  tectonic shift taking place in the name of  science.The way we practice  medicine currently, it fits in with any of the following descriptions . Divine, Godly,dramatic,miraculous , comical ,cruel or  even outright  brutal ! (I dare not quantify the weightage of each adjectives used above !)

The field of cardiology as I know personally for the past three decades is challenged by  uncontrolled growth (How about proposing 1000 dollar PCSK blocker Evolocumab for a meaningless reduction of few mg of LDL over and above Statin ) Further,the technology goes on to Implode at every corners of wall street ,(Mitra clip for mild MR of DCM ! TAVR for aged Aortic valve )  hijacking  commonsense and cost (where is the effectiveness ?) of every stake holder .

In the process ,the critical  healing power that resides within every biological system is ignored and ridiculed upon .(You become a fool if you say endothelial tissue plasminogen activator and lytic system will take care of a  bulk of the intravascular vascular thrombus if we wait, and  we shall permanently defer an Intervention! Current space aged physicians want to invade every existing (or non existing ) problem with multi pronged military strategy and guess what will happen to the humble  body which becomes the  battle ground.

Coming to the content proper

Sometimes I feel God throws some random truths at an unexpected  time through some extraordinary men ! Here is a most unusual study of its kind from the  Sanctum sanctorum of Medical science , namely  Harvard medical school and Massachusetts  General hospital .I think it was  presented  in ACC Scientific sessions 2018 , Orlando and published in Journal of American heart Association.

Cheers and congratulations to the lead author Dr.Anupam  B Jena* , Physician and professor , Department of health care policy , and Health economist

* A video profile of author is in the reference

There is no surprise a paper with such a title had a huge  media backlash. USA today reacts  . . .

My observations and final message 

The paper from MGH,  Boston  dwells a sensitive area ,of course it has come with a gross conclusion (However,  I feel it has hit the bull’s eye.) Still, for the critics, I want to tell one thing , who can deny the fact ?  the massive evidence base with 100s and thousands of research papers created by cardiology scientific Industry over the decades is largely a damn squib.

(The problem with acquiring this sort of  ready to synthesise knowledge stuff  is, It sits right inside our brain and bonds irreversibly , refuse to leave even if these dubious practices are proven dangerous ultimately !)

It might appear , the only option  to tackle fake science would be through some dramatic ,less than ideal or mediocre research papers (Or even another fake!) As long as final outcome is good for the public don’t bother about methodology  of such studies.(Does it sound in any way I am a supporter of Donald Trump ,! No I am not !)

Reference 

Now have a look at this (a long post ) which I wrote some time  back. Find out whether  these  scribblings of mine seem to have grown some scientific backing now .

A brief Info about  the author of this unusual paper that has put the field of Interventional cardiology into tail spin and fluttering in cross winds !