Heart-to-heart

in a recent announcement, doctors at the Batra Hospital and Medical Research Centre ( bhmrc ) said that they have been successful in employing a new non-surgical technique of treating patients suffering from heart diseases. The doctors have treated at least seven patients with the 'Percutaneous Transluminal Myocardial Revascularisation' method on whom the conventional surgical methods could not have worked.

Fayaz Shawl, associate professor of c ardiology from George Washington University Hospital, Washington, and Upendra Kaul of the bhmrc , said that this method entails drilling channels through the heart wall with a laser system technology. This feeds blood to the oxygen-starved muscles of the heart. The operation is done under local anaesthesia and the patient may be released from the hospital within a day or two of the operation. Calling it a technique with tremendous potential, Shawl said that such treatment should only be reserved for patients suffering from chest pain or debilitating angina caused by limited flow of blood to the heart.