Heart and lung transplant and contemporary heart failure management will be established
Vikram Hospital has tied up with MGM Healthcare, Chennai to establish a state-of-the-art programme for heart and lung transplant and contemporary heart failure management. Heart failure services at Vikram Hospital will be led by Dr Ranganath Nayak, Senior Consultant Cardiologist.
The team from MGM Healthcare, under the guidance of Dr KR Balakrishnan, Director, Institute of Heart & Lung Transplant & Mechanical Circulatory Support, will provide expertise for patient management at all stages, including pre-operative, intra-operative, intensive care and follow-up. The heart-lung transplant team at MGM Healthcare, led by Dr Balakrishnan, has successfully performed over 400 heart and lung surgeries to date.
Said Dr Somesh Mittal, Vikram Hospital, Bengaluru, “Vikram Hospital has been providing world-class quaternary care for patients across India for more than 10 years. Dr KR Balakrishnan and a team of MGM Healthcare have more than three decades of experience in heart and lung transplant. The people of Karnataka will benefit immensely from this tie-up. At the same time, cross-listing of potential transplant patients in both states will help the optimal utilisation of donor organs.”
Dr Mittal added, “We envision a multidisciplinary approach for management of heart failure patients including cardiology, cardiac surgery, anaesthesia and critical care, rehabilitation, nutritional care as well as psychosocial support. We will be providing an entire range of treatment modalities including medical management, device therapies such as implantable cardioverter defibrillators, cardiac resynchronisation therapy and combo devices, short and long-term ventricular assist devices and heart transplant. We are already equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and when complemented by the expertise from MGM, we hope to provide the best possible care for our patients.”
Dr Balakrishnan said, “Our clinical team at MGM Healthcare will be working closely with the clinical team at Vikram Hospital to establish the heart and lung transplant and heart failure management programmes. Medical technology and treatment protocols have greatly evolved over the past few years. Ensuring that patients get the best that medical science has to offer is our primary goal.”
Dr Suresh Rao KG, Co-Director – Institute of Heart and Lung Transplant & Mechanical Circulatory Support and HOD – Cardiac Anesthesia mentioned, “We provide advanced medical care, especially for those with serious and critical cardiac and pulmonary-related conditions who are unable to cope up with normal life, even with maximum possible medical treatment.”
Dr Ravikumar R, Sr Consultant & Associate Clinical Lead -Cardiology & Heart Failure Program said “ The heart failure is the under-recognized problem in India. The quality of life and longevity of end-stage heart failure patients who are not responding to conventional therapy can be improved by advanced procedures like heart transplant and Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD).
Harish Manian, CEO, MGM Healthcare, Chennai said, “We run India’s largest heart and lung transplant programme and have decades of experience and expertise in the domain as well as in mechanical circulatory support programme. Vikram Hospital is known for its clinical talent in cardiology, cardiac surgery and pulmonology. It was natural for both of the hospitals to establish a partnership to offer a world-class heart-and-lung transplant programme for the people of Karnataka.”
Talking about the importance of a lung transplant program, Dr. KS Satish, Consultant Pulmonologist & Chest Physician, Vikram Hospital, Bengaluru said, “People in India are largely unaware of the extent of the problem so far as lung diseases are concerned. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the second commonest cause of death after heart disease. India is home to one-third of the world’s COPD patients. More than a million people die of COPD every year. To add to this, many patients have suffered from permanent lung damage due to COVID-19. Many of these patients are potentially treatable by a lung transplant, allowing them to live longer with a good quality of life. While patients with lung disease will be under the care of our lung team, transplant procedures would be a team effort between Vikram Hospital and MGM Healthcare.”
