Mumbai: Cath lab at KEM hospital to now work 24×7, offer late-night stenting – ET HealthWorld

Mumbai: KEM Hospital, Parel, will become the first public hospital in the city to run a 24×7 cath lab and offer what is acknowledged as the best treatment – primary angioplasty – for patients coming in with sudden heart attacks.

In most public hospitals, patients coming in with sudden heart attacks in the middle of the night are given clot-busting drugs or thrombolytics. But research has shown that such patients too should be rushed to the cath lab for an angioplasty – a procedure in which a scaffolding-like medical device, called a stent, is put in blockaged blood vessels to keep them open.

Usually, angioplasties are planned in advance. But when offered to patients in myocardial infarction or heart attack, it’s got the special term of primary angioplasty or PAMI. While PAMI is offered in the city’s private sector hospitals that have cardiologists living nearby with an extra shift of cath lab nurses and technical staff, it’s not possible in most public hospitals given the resource crunch.

But given the spurt in sudden heart attack during the pandemic, the BMC has decided to try out a pilot project offering PAMI at KEM Hospital, said BMC additional commissioner (health) Dr Sanjeev Kumar. “We have a ready cath lab that we will now run 24×7,” he said. PAMI is particularly the best option for patients with a type of heart attack called ‘ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI)’ that is more serious and carries a greater risk of serious complications and death.

KEM Hospital dean Dr Sangeeta Ravat said the hospital has a team of cardiologists living close by who could be called whenever a heart attack patient arrives. “PAMI is known to preserve heart function and save lives. We want to offer it to our patients as well,” she said. The programme will first focus on patients within a small geographic area around Lalbaug.

Prof Charan Lanjewar from KEM’s cardiology department said PAMI has been proven to be superior to clot-busting medicines. “Around 10% of the heart attack patients who receive clot-busting medicines still die, while the corresponding figure with PAMI is 3%,” he said. PAMI patients make quick recovery, have lower incidence of rehospitalisation and heart failure rates.

Dr Ravat said over 90% of KEM’s patients are supported by state health insurance schemes, and those who aren’t will be supported by in-house funds. The only one drawback is the delayed arrival of heart attack victims. “Ideally, a patient should reach hospital within six to 12 hours of getting the first symptom such as chest pain. But, in India, 60% of the patients seek help after 12 hours,” said Dr Lanjewar.