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Posts Tagged ‘acc aha guidelines’

When a culprit thrombus keep the  myocardium as hostage . . . don’t storm the coronary artery  indiscriminately   !

When a single gun men  keeps 100 innocent people as hostages , threatening their  lives, rescue mission should start .No can can afford to wait. But, without knowing  the  culprit’s true nature the process of rescue mission is always going to be tricky .There are so many instances Newton’s third law  was reversed , when reactions  evoke more chaos  than the index action.

In the recent world terrorist events ,  the  rescue missions  were so delicate and  it was very  unfortunate we  lost  many   innocent hostages !  The reasoning is ,there  is no way we can avoid these. I wonder is it really true ? !

rescue missionNot all culprit lesions  are true ones.They simply threaten  our myocardium with  thrombus and plaques  in various forms .Don’t show aggression to pseudo threats  you may  ultimately end up with more damage.(What I call as crazy culprits!)

(  Read here , why unstable angina even though thrombus is sitting right inside the coronary artery attempting to lyse it causes more  damage !)

After thought

Iam sure ,bulk of  the Interventionists wouldn’t agree with this thought . They would decry , watching a person  silently when the myocardium  is on  fire is a serious crime !

But . . . we  need to  remember the process of extinguishing  the fire  with some more fire arms is a delicate game played in undefined  philosophical turf.

The only way to introspect  such events in life is , to accept any eventuality    arising out of “not pursuing”  a  presumed rescue mission with vigor. No need to be guilty about that,after all , it can be a myth !

Modern human cognition , growing with a staple  scientific  feed  on a 24/7  basis  is  unlikely to realise , restraint can be an effective tool  even in critical moments !

Oh,is all that I have  scribbled so far  is just a repetition  of 1000 year concept of  “Primum non nocere”

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Here is  the two versions  of  a  discussion  by a  cardiologist  to his  patient , on the day of his discharge  from a  state of the art trans national  heart health  service in southern  India.

An alluring cardiologist .

  • I have implanted  the  world’s  best drug eluting stent to your block .
  • The block has  vanished without a trace  .
  • You will be free from pain  here after .
  • You can enjoy a new lease of life .
  • You can go for holidays , you can cherish  ,   you can do whatever you want  .
  • Forget about complications  it is negligible .
  • But please take all the drugs regularly .

A Bitter cardiologist

  • This stent is a temporary solution to your problem .
  • Do not think you are cured of your illness .
  • Atherosclerosis can never been cured completely.
  • You have to be careful .
  • Avoid very strenuous activity .
  • It can re occlude at any time even if you skip  the tablets for  few days .
  • After all, it takes only  6 minutes to form a blood clot  .
  • You may  require CABG in  future  as most stents  get blocked  by  5 -10 years .
  • Further , the drug you are taking may develop resistance and you may  recur the same old problem .

Final message

So , the  art of  medicine  is to hide some of  the  unpleasant outcomes from the patient and project only positive aspects to our patients *

* This is often a controversial  issue . Scientifically advanced health care system  do not agree with this . But  I would believe , that is one of the major reasons   they are suffering from huge health care crisis !

I do not agree with  the concept  of empowering  patients with  bitter truths   . This  need not be  vigorously  practiced.   Disclosure of all potential complication  to our patients  , by itself a trigger  such  events  by meager anxiety .

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Once in a while the ACC/AHA comes with knock out articles. Here is a  must read  topic for every cardiologist.

How to diagnose MI in ECG ? Sounds , insulting ?

After reading this you should change the way 12 lead  ECG is looked at . . .

Experts from the article

  • How to make the best of lead AVR  ?  Just invert it and you get a + 30 degree lead which  was hither  to unavailable .A new window of opportunity to diagnose   antero lateral MI .
  • Shuffling  the 12 leads to a have an anatomically contiguous  ECG
  • Know , how to label STEMI  with a  .5mm ST elevation  (Minimal STEMI ?)

And lot more exciting  tips  !

If you  think ,  all these are new stuff in cardiology you are grossly mistaken .These concepts are more than 10 years old (In Sweden it is 25 years old ! )

When  European heart journal published  the article   “Myocardial Infarction redefined ”  in year 2000 many missed out the importance . For those who missed it (just  10 short  years have gone by )    ,  Let us update ourself  at least  in 2010 !

Thanks to ACC and JACC.

Click on the link

For PDF article click on the Image

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pci-ptca-ebm-stent

Scientifically ,  the  indication for coronary revascularisation   should be  based on following

  1. Patient’s  symptom ( more specifically angina , dyspnea is less important !)
  2. Prov0kable  ischemia  ( A significantly positive stress test )
  3. Signifcant LV dysfunction with  documented  viable myocardium &  residual ischemia
  4. A revascularisation eligible coronary anatomy * TVD/Left main/Proximal LAD etc ( *Either 1, 2 or 3 should be  present  in addition )
  5. All emergency PCI during STEMI /High risk NSTEMI

Practically ,

A CAD  patient  may fulfill  “Any of the above 5 or  “None of the above 5” ,  but ,  if   a coronary obstruction  was  revealed  by coronary angiogram  and if he  fulfils The 6th criteria , he becomes  eligible for  revascualrisation

6th criteria

If the patient has  enough monetary   resources (by self  ) or by  an  insurance company  to take care of PCI /CABG *

*The sixth  criteria overrides all other criteria in many of the cath labs .Of course , there are few genuine ones still  fighting hard , to keep the commerce out ,  from contaminating cardiology !

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