Cardiology is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular heart disease and electrophysiology. Physicians who specialize in this field of medicine are called cardiologists, a specialty of internal medicine. Pediatric cardiologists are pediatricians who specialize in cardiology. Physicians who specialize in cardiac surgery are called cardiothoracic surgeons or cardiac surgeons, a specialty of general surgery.
Angioplasty, is also known as balloon angioplasty and percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA), is a minimally invasive endovascular procedure used to widen narrowed or obstructed arteries or veins, typically to treat arterial atherosclerosis. A deflated balloon attached to a catheter is passed over a guide-wire into the narrowed vessel and then inflated to a fixed size. The balloon forces expansion of the blood vessel and the surrounding muscular wall, allowing an improved blood flow. A stent may be inserted at the time of ballooning to ensure the vessel remains open, and the balloon is then deflated and withdrawn. Angioplasty has come to include all manner of vascular interventions that are typically performed percutaneously.
Interventional cardiology is a branch of cardiology that deals specifically with the catheter based treatment of structural heart diseases. Andreas Gruentzig is considered the father of interventional cardiology after the development of angioplasty by interventional radiologist Charles Dotter.
Andreas Roland Grüntzig was a German radiologist and cardiologist, with foundational interest, training and research in epidemiology and angiology. He is known for being the first to develop successful balloon angioplasty for expanding lumens of narrowed arteries. He was born in Dresden.
B. J. Medical College (BJMC) is a medical college located in Pune, Maharashtra, India. The college, administered by the Government of Maharashtra, comprises clinical and para/pre-clinical departments working alongside the Sassoon General Hospital. Founded by Byramjee Jeejeebhoy in 1878.
Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is a non-surgical procedure used to treat narrowing of the coronary arteries of the heart found in coronary artery disease. The process involves combining coronary angioplasty with stenting, which is the insertion of a permanent wire-meshed tube that is either drug eluting (DES) or composed of bare metal (BMS). The stent delivery balloon from the angioplasty catheter is inflated with media to force contact between the struts of the stent and the vessel wall, thus widening the blood vessel diameter. After accessing the blood stream through the femoral or radial artery, the procedure uses coronary catheterization to visualise the blood vessels on X-ray imaging. After this, an interventional cardiologist can perform a coronary angioplasty, using a balloon catheter in which a deflated balloon is advanced into the obstructed artery and inflated to relieve the narrowing; certain devices such as stents can be deployed to keep the blood vessel open. Various other procedures can also be performed.
A drug-eluting stent (DES) is a peripheral or coronary stent placed into narrowed, diseased peripheral or coronary arteries that slowly release a drug to block cell proliferation. This prevents fibrosis that, together with clots (thrombi), could otherwise block the stented artery, a process called restenosis. The stent is usually placed within the peripheral or coronary artery by an interventional cardiologist or interventional radiologist during an angioplasty procedure.
Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research (SJICR), is headquartered in Bengaluru is a tertiary care autonomous institute run by the Government of Karnataka, in Bengaluru, Mysuru and Kalaburagi. At the Bengaluru campus, it presently has 1150 in-patient beds for cardiology, cardiothoracic surgery and pediatric cardiology, spread over two twin eight story buildings and is considered one of the largest dedicated heart hospitals in Asia. This new building which was opened in 2001 and was built at a cost of USD 17 Million(INR 130 Crore)
The history of invasive and interventional cardiology is complex, with multiple groups working independently on similar technologies. Invasive and interventional cardiology is currently closely associated with cardiologists, though the development and most of its early research and procedures were performed by diagnostic and interventional radiologists.
Lourdes Heart Institute and Neuro Centre (LHINC) is a new block set up in Lourdes Hospital, Cochin, Kerala, India, to cater to tertiary level care for the entire spectrum of cardiovascular and neurological disease. It was inaugurated on 16 March 2007, by Mr. A. K. Antony, the Defence Minister of India. This institute was started to meet a long-felt need to provide cardiac and neurological interventional facilities, and especially to provide interventional neurological facilities for the treatment of strokes, including selective thrombolysis and primary angioplasty for stroke which was hitherto unavailable in this part of India.
A coronary stent is a tube-shaped device placed in the coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart, to keep the arteries open in the treatment of coronary heart disease. It is used in a procedure called percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Coronary stents are now used in more than 90% of PCI procedures. Stents reduce angina and have been shown to improve survivability and decrease adverse events in an acute myocardial infarction.
Dr. Praveen Chandra is an Indian cardiologist and chairman of interventional cardiology at Medanta - The Medicity, Gurgaon, India. He is recognised as one of the leaders in angioplasty in the country and is proficient in a lot of new devices and technologies. He has been awarded for his contribution and services in the field of coronary angioplasty in India in 1998.
Purshotam Lal is an Indian cardiologist and chairman and director of Interventional Cardiology of the Metro Group of Hospitals. He has been awarded the Padma Vibhushan (2009), Padma Bhushan (2003),Dr. B. C. Roy Award (2004), and Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science (Medicine) (2022), He specializes in non-surgical closure of heart holes (ASD/VSD), non-surgical replacement of valves, and treatment of multiple sclerosis.
Mathew Samuel Kalarickal is an Indian cardiologist widely known as the father of angioplasty in India. He specializes in coronary angioplasty, carotid stenting, coronary stenting and rotablator athrectomy.
Dr Ashok Seth,born on 12th October 1954 is an Indian interventional cardiologist, credited with the performance of over 50,000 angiograms and 20,000 angioplasties, which has been included in the Limca Book of Records, a reference book for achievements and records from an Indian perspective. He is a Fellow of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of London, Edinburgh and Ireland and serves as the chief cardiologist, holding the chairs of the department of cardiovascular sciences and cardiology council at the Fortis Healthcare. Seth, a recipient of the Order of Isabella the Catholic, was honored by the Government of India with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri, in 2003, followed by Padma Bhushan, the third highest Indian civilian award, in 2015.
Tejas M. Patel is a cardiologist from Ahmedabad, India and chairman and chief interventional cardiologist at Apex Heart Institute, Ahmedabad. Patel, a recipient of the Dr. B. C. Roy Award, the highest Indian medical award, was honoured by the Government of India in 2015 with Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award.
Suvro Banerjee is a consultant interventional cardiologist, practicing in Kolkata. He has worked at various hospitals in the United Kingdom, and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London as well as Edinburgh. His procedural skills, among others, include coronary and peripheral angioplasty, pacemaker, ICD and CRT implantation. He is the first doctor in Kolkata to successfully use the ICD which is the Implantable Carvioverter Defibrillatorto to treat a patient's abnormal heart rhythm.
National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD); in collaboration with the Government of Sindh are a chain of health care centers located in Sindh, Pakistan.
Samin K. Sharma is an American philanthropist of Indian descent and an interventional cardiologist who co-founded the Eternal Heart Care Centre and Research Institute in Jaipur (EHCC). Sharma has served on New York State’s Cardiac Advisory Board since 2004. As of 2021, he is Senior Vice-President, Operations & Quality at The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and runs the Dr. Samin K. Sharma Family Foundation Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory. As of 2018, he is Chairman Board of Trustees, Association of Indians in America (AIA). As of 2022, he has been an investigator on 86 grants and multi-center trials and authored 486 peer-reviewed articles that have been cited 21,734 times.
Iraj Nazeri is an Iranian cardiologist and professor at Tehran University of Medical Sciences. He performed the first coronary angioplasty in Iran.
