Fortis Hospital Cunningham launches Heart Rhythm and Heart Failure Centre

Bangalore: Fortis Hospital, Cunningham Road has recently launched – Fortis Heart Rhythm and Heart failure Centre  with an intent to provide one stop solution for prevention and management of all heart rhythm disorders and heart failure treatment.

Heart Rhythm and Heart failure centre is a very popular concept in the West, while in India it still needs to be understood. Often people mistake heart failure to be a heart attack. While, heart failure is a condition where the heart muscle is unable to pump enough blood to meet the body's needs, heart attack is a sudden occurrence caused by blocked blood supply to the heart muscle. Apart from this many patients suffering from heart failure may also have an abnormality of the heart’s electrical system where the heart beats in an uncoordinated manner. This further reduces the pumping ability of the heart.

The incidence of Heart failure and heart rhythm problems is a rising trend in India yet there is no awareness on the same. The best way to treat such patients is through medical management, assisted devices and finally a heart transplant.

“Having a history of 25 years Fortis Cunningham has witnessed some India’s best cardiac milestones, which provides us the bandwidth to handle heart failure cases with a comprehensive team of cardiologists, electro physiologists, trained nurses and cardiac surgeons. Our motto is to improve quality of life of our patients for which the Heart Rhythm and Heart Failure Centre will act as a catalyst,” said, Dr Vivek Jawali, Chairman – Cardio Vascular Sciences and Medical Advisory Council, Fortis Hospitals, Bangalore.

According to an estimate, the incidence of heart failure in India is about 10 to 20 / 1000 people over the age of 65years have heart failure due to prevalence of coronary heart disease, hypertension, obesity, diabetes and rheumatic heart disease. Recognizing the symptoms and going to the experts makes a huge difference in the quality of life of any person.

100 year old Sarojamma (name changed) case is testimony to the same. A few months ago, she suddenly started feeling uneasy, lost consciousness and even her heart stopped beating for a few seconds but was revived. When taken to a nearby hospital she was diagnosed with heart rhythm disorder. “The patient was referred to Fortis Hospital, while her age was a challenge, her history of hypertension, diabetes, and recent treatment on pneumonia, added to the complications.  After necessary investigations including ECG, we found that her heart rate was very slow and she had major heart block. As her heartbeats were irregular, we implanted a permanent pacemaker to get her heart rhythm back,” said Dr Yashodha, Consultant Cardiologist – Fortis Hospital, Cunningham road.

The centre is equipped with state-of-the-art technology namely 3D mapping , Radio Frequency Ablation(RFA),Electrophysiology Study(EPS), Implantation & Pacemakers, Defibrillation(ICD), Biventricular Pacemakers(CRT/CRT-D) and Loop Recorders(ILR) , Holter/event recorders, Head-up Tilt Table Test, etc.