Sri Lanka Heart Association President explains theme for 2014
View(s):It is prevention as well as management of heart attacks that the current President of the Sri Lanka Heart Association, Dr. Gotabhaya Ranasinghe, will focus on. Explaining that the theme for 2014 will be ‘ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) management, Dr. Ranasinghe promised a two-pronged approach, soon after taking up the Presidency of the association at its annual general meeting held on November 17 at Hotel Renuka, Colombo 3.
Dr. Gotabhaya Ranasinghe at the AGM. Pic by Indika Handuwala
While a minor myocardial infarction or a heart attack occurs when a blood clot partially blocks a coronary artery and disrupts the flow of blood to the heart muscle which then dies, in a STEMI the blood clot completely cuts off blood flow in the coronary artery. This results in the death of the full heart muscle which gets blood from that coronary artery, it is learnt.
Pointing out that three million people worldwide have a STEMI annually, Dr. Ranasinghe said that data in Sri Lanka are hard to come by. However, last year (2012) of all the patients after heart attacks who were admitted to the National Hospital in Colombo, there were 720 STEMI patients.
His STEMI management plans include the introduction of the newer drug tenecteplase as a thrombolytic drug to breakdown or dissolve the blood clot blocking the coronary artery, for it is more effective than the currently-used drug streptokinase. This he hopes to introduce with the support of the Health Ministry and the Sri Lanka College of Physicians. Another part of his action plan is to increase percutaneous coronary intervention — PCI — which is non-surgical widening of the affected coronary artery using a balloon catheter.
He also hopes to extend the public health education programme for the prevention of heart diseases and explore the possibility of getting a Presidential Task Force for Heart Disease Prevention established in Sri Lanka.
Dr. Ranasinghe who is a Consultant Cardiologist now attached to the Kalutara General Hospital has recently been awarded the Fellowships of the Asia Pacific Society of Interventional Cardiologists (FAPSIC) and the prestigious American College of Cardiology (FACC). He has also been appointed Sri Lanka’s Country Director Lumen Global, an international programme that works towards the prevention and treatment of heart attacks.