Pure science
Whenever possible ,before doing a coronary revascularisation procedure , check twice the segments you try to perfuse is really short of blood supply and truly needs the procedure. Don’t ever waste your resources and try to blood-feed the dead myocardium. It’ can never be awakened !
Pragmatic science
I was conversing with my colleague recently , who has grown into suave , Interventional cardiologist with a huge academic & societal repute .He owns a personal cathlab and planning to get one more.
I learnt a non-academic reality lesson from him .

When planning myocardial revasascularisation, apart from myocardial viablity status, there is one more viability issue which is done in the account books of finance mangers across big hospitals. Its Cath lab viablity. Trust me, he used exactly the same word ! He went on to explain in detail , how, every day there must be a minimum number of procedures to keep the machine alive. Which is under the eagle eyes of the guys who funded the state of the art lab !
“So, what do you say,I asked him ?”
He was frank enough to admit, he felt always happy when he is able to convert angiograms into angioplasties.He went on to add , the Ideal CAG-PCI conversion ration should be atleast 3:1 or more.
“Whenver I hear such genuine statments from real world people , it pains, as it tends to confirm my assumptions ”
Final message
I am wondering with all my lost wisdom. Why should any cardiologist after 30 years of training, fight for cath lab viablity , and get into a conflict with the very organ they are supposed to care and protect.
When did we become so Inferior beings & fight for the survival of these life less machines ?
Meanwhile, major text books , has un-intentionally facilitated this academic deciet .They have largely taken away the sting out of the snake . Myocardial viablity , hibernating, stunned myocardium , are rarely given importance nowadays and made it appear taboo concepts,in cardiology academia.
Postamble.
Will be extremely happy if what is portrayed in this post is not really true.
Reference
Nandan S. Anavekar, Panithaya Chareonthaitawee, Jagat Narula, Bernard J. Gersh, Revascularization in Patients With Severe Left Ventricular Dysfunction: Is the Assessment of Viability Still Viable?,
Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Volume 67, Issue 24, 2016,Pages 2874-2887,
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ORBITA trial : First let us do some harm . . . second , we shall . . !?
Posted in Cardiology -Interventional -PCI, Cardiology -Technology, Cardiology -Therapeutic dilemma, cardiology -Therapeutics, Cardiology -unresolved questions, cardiology journal club, cardiology wisdom, Medical education, Medical ethics, Uncategorized, tagged ABUSE OF STENTS, ACC AHA ESC ORBITA GUIDELIES, CHRONIC STABLE ANGINA GUIDELINES, drsvenkatesan, HOW ORBITA TRIAL WILL CHANGE MY PRACTICE, INAPPROPRIATE USE CRITERIA AUC STENTS, LANCET ORBITA STUDY, ORBITA COURAGE BARI2D FAME 2, ORBITA IMPERIAL COLLEGE, ORBITA study, ORBITA TRIAL LANCET, ORBITA trial review and comments, ORBITA VS COURAGE, reviewing ORBITA trial study critically, TCTMD 2017 ORBITA, WAHT WE LEARN FROM ORBITA STUDY on November 6, 2017| 2 Comments »
Cardiologists at confused cross roads !
Perils of limited Intellect & Infinite greed
When not so appropriately trained cardiologists do Inappropriate things “use becomes misuse” . . . then, it won’t take much time for science to become total abuse. That’s what happened with the murky world of coronary stents .No surprise, it’s time to firefight the healers instead of the disease !
Now ,Comes the ORBITA study . Yes , it looks like a God sent path breaking trial that spits some harsh truths not only in cardiology, but also in behavioral ethics .Let us not work over time and hunt for any non-existing loop holes in ORBITA. Even if it has few, it can be condoned for sure as we have essentially lived out of flawed science for too long Injuring many Innocent hearts !
Yes , its enforced premature funeral times for a wonderful technology !
GIF Image courtesy http://www.tenor.com
Meanwhile, let us pray for a selective resurrection of stenting in chronic coronary syndromes and stop behaving like lesser professionals !
Postamble
Extremely sorry . . . to all those discerning academic folks , who are looking for a true scientific review of ORBITA , please look elsewhere !
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