Dubai, United Arab Emirates -  05, August 2019:  Aster Hospitals Mankhool-Dubai, a world-class facility under Aster DM Healthcare, a leading healthcare provider in the Middle East and India, has performed catheterization procedures on 1,000 cardiac patients at its state-of-the-art Cath lab within one year of its launch. 

The huge number of cardiac procedures performed at the centre indicates the rapid escalation of cardiac incidents afflicting younger people in the UAE and reminds people that prevention should start early before problems develop, say experts at the hospital.  

Commenting on this, Dr. Sherbaz Bichu, CEO of Aster Hospitals UAE, said, “Our Cath lab in Mankhool is one of the very few centers in the UAE that offers 24x7 emergency angiogram and angioplasty for patients with acute heart attack. Our specialist services are provided by internationally trained interventional cardiologists, who have expertise in managing all complex procedures with cutting-edge medical technology and using the latest generation drug eluting stents and imaging technology.”

Dr. Naveed Ahmed, Specialist Interventional Cardiologist at Aster Hospital-Mankhool, said that the hospital receives an average two to three heart attack patients every day. “This is in addition to 40-50 patients referred every month for angiogram from clinics on an elective basis for chest pain associated with a positive treadmill test (suggesting blockage in the blood supply to the heart).”

“Our Cath lab facilitates diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases with minimally invasive tests and procedures. Angiogram is a procedure done by using a small tube through a patient’s wrist or leg. The heart arteries can be visualized by injecting a dye, so any blockage can be identified early and treated to prevent heart attacks. Now, even heart valves can be replaced in a Cath lab without open surgery,” he elaborated. 

Dr. Amal Louis, Consultant Interventional Cardiology at Aster Hospital-Mankhool, explained the relevance of catherization procedures, citing studies that show invasive treatment like angioplasty and stenting as superior to medical therapy for patients with blockages in heart arteries, especially in acute heart attacks. “We do the Cath lab procedure on heart attack patients when an artery has 100 per cent blockage. This procedure, when done early on an emergency basis on patients with a major heart attack, has proved to save lives at a higher rate.” 

“Patients from various ethnic backgrounds with coronary artery disease (CAD) undergo interventional procedures at our Cath lab, and we have noticed that the majority of these are younger segment of expatriates living in the UAE who appear to be increasingly prone to CADs due to a number of reasons and they get it at a much earlier age than observed in the rest of the world,” he added.  

Aster Hospitals Mankhool recently introduced ‘Orbital Artherectomy’, an FDA-approved first-of-its-kind technique, in Dubai to treat calcified vessels in cardiac patients. 

“This mode of treatment will heal patients with heavily calcified (or hardened) blockages in the heart arteries. Previously, bypass surgery was the preferred option as stenting was not possible in such cases and if an angioplasty was attempted, the results were short-lived, and patients had significant complications. With the new Atherectomy device, such hardened blockages can be cracked, and stenting can be done successfully. This treatment option also reduces significant complications in patients with heavily calcified blockages,” Dr. Naveed concluded.