The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : New angio scan at Apollo

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 29, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

New angio scan at Apollo

Staff Reporter

Helped reduce incidence of heart attack and provided warning even when ECG showed no change

CHENNAI: In the past few months, Apollo Hospital has seen a marked change in the way its cardiologists diagnose people with cardiac problems.

At the Apollo Heart Centre, cardiologists are using the 64-slice CT Angio scan, installed last year.

Consultant cardiologist P. Ramachandran and chief radiologist Rochita Venkataraman said the equipment helped reduce incidence of heart attack and prevented the risk of cardiac attacks by providing ample warning even when the ECG showed no change. Sometimes, moderately occluded arteries with areas of vulnerable plaque are likely to lead to heart attacks. Vulnerable plaque is a type of fatty build-up in an artery, thought to be caused by inflammation.

The scan machine can detect these inflammations, thus helping a cardiologist take preventive steps.

3200 scans done

"We have so far done 3,200 scans and 20 per cent of the patients who tested highly positive needed some form of intervention. A fourth of the patients had no clue that they had problems," said Dr. Rochita.

Mild problems

Forty-one per cent, who underwent the scan, had no problems but 39 per cent had mild or moderate problems that needed medication.

Preetha Reddy, managing director, stressed on the need to focus on people with mild and moderate problems.

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