Surgical, medical and intervention techniques to improve quality of life of patients with heart failure were discussed at the 14 Annual Live Workshop on “Current Issues in Cardiac Surgery: Focus – Heart Failure” here on Saturday and Sunday.
The workshop, hosted by G. Kuppuswamy Naidu Memorial Hospital, saw surgeons share their experience in heart failure treatment. There were as many as 10 doctors from various institutions who shared their expertise.
Richard Daly, Director, Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplant, Mayo Clinic, the U.S., Lorenzo Menicanti, Chief Cardiac Surgeon, San Donato Hospital, Milan, and Jai Raman, Chief Cardiac Surgeon, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, the U.S., served as international resource persons.
The lectures and discussions focused on ventricular restoration, correction of Ischemic mitral regurgitation, surgical treatment of HOCM, mechanical support of heart in short-term and long-term.
The workshop was organised with the aim that heart failure was increasing with increase in ageing population and was becoming a burden to society.
Awareness
The need was to create awareness on going in for treatment at the initial stages rather than spending on advanced treatment when the treatment options become limited and expensive.
Transplant remained the only solution though other therapy like going in for a fully artificial heart is making progress. Assistive devices for short-term and long-term support are also gaining prominence, but are still limited by cost and availability of technology.
