Three years ago, an otherwise healthy Vina Rashmi Patel experienced palpitations and chest pain. Though the 64-year-old Delhi housewife had a family history of heart diseases, with her father suffering from heart attack and diabetes, her medical history failed to explain the symptoms.
These symptoms would surface once every two to three months and she would be rushed to a hospital each time. However, her ECG results showed no abnormalities due to the infrequent and short duration of the palpitations.
Ms. Patel started sleeping poorly because the palpitations and chest pains mostly affected her at night. She also stopped sharing her condition with her family at night. Lack of a conclusive diagnosis despite years of regular health checkups, medication and admissions to various hospitals added to her anxiety. The growing cost of various diagnosis tests each month also bothered her.
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“This is because some women and their doctors do not take heart disease symptoms seriously. Women often do not view heart disease as a women’s problem. They continue to go about their work even when they feel ill, either dismissing their symptoms as not serious or not realizing that they represent a heart condition. Women need to understand the significance of heart disease and gender differences in risk factors and symptoms,” said T.S. Kler, the executive director, Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre.
Ms. Patel finally consulted Dr. Kler. After considering the infrequency of the symptoms, he advised her to go for Reveal LINQ™ Insertable Cardiac Monitoring System (ICM) implant, is the smallest diagnostic tool that will stay in her body for three years and monitor her heart for any abnormalities.
The insertable ICM, which has been for the first time used in North India, is a small device placed just under the skin of the chest through an outpatient procedure. The device detects and records abnormal heart rhythms over long periods of time, up to three years, to help determine whether a patient has an abnormal heart rhythm or not.
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The smallest ICM available (1.2 cc), Reveal LINQ™ ICM is unique as it has the same battery life but more data memory than other ICMs. It continuously and wirelessly monitors the heart and sends information to physicians to help them make an accurate diagnosis and determine a treatment plan.