HEALTH

Heart disorder in kids: non-surgical option available
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 24 — For the newly born babies suffering from congenital heart disorders there is a non-surgical option of cure as well. Speaking about the management of children with obstructions and hole in the heart, here today, Dr Anita Saxena from the Department of Cardiology, The All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, said that in certain selected cases, instead of the normal conventional surgery, a catheter is passed through the vein in the groin. Through this a button made of nitinol wire mesh in a collapsed form is passed. Upon reaching the site, the button opens up and fixes itself in the heart thereby, she added.

Dr Saxena is in the city in connection with the ongoing symposium on cardiology; “Challenges of New Millennium —Focus on Preventive Cardiology”. The two-day conference has been organised by the Department of Cardiology, PGI.

According to Dr Saxena, six to eight out of every 1000 live births are estimated to have congenital heart disease. Out of these, a substantial number need an infant cardiac surgery.

Interestingly why these children suffer from these disorders is not yet clear. However, as per Dr Saxena, there are some theories which say that if a mother suffers from rubella infection, the baby could be born with defects in the heart.

Fortunately in half of these, the hole is small enough to close on its own. But the larger holes require a major surgical correction and depending upon the size and other factors, immediate decision and action is required, says Dr Saxena.

For this doctors advocate awareness among the parents. Some of the earliest signs include the baby turning blue due to mixing of blood. They require immediate attention in the form of surgery, says Dr Saxena. Parents should not ignore symptoms like breathlessness, fast heart rate, inability in suckling in their babies which are the earliest indicative of a heart not functioning properly.

Treated properly and well in time, the survival rate for these children is quite encouraging. As many as 95 per cent of these babies survive provided given timely treatment, says Dr Saxena, while adding that 90 per cent out of these are able to lead an absolutely normal lifestyle.

Rheumatic heart disease is another major problem faced by five to 10 per cent of the young school going children. This is a fall out of the streptococcal infection which effects heart valves besides enlarging the organ, adds Dr Saxena. Instead of replacing the defective valve with an artificial one the latest technique is of repairing, she says.

Doctors lament that the problem is that every child who needs a surgery does not get operated. And in rheumatic heart disease valve replacement surgery presents a special problem because cost of the device is far beyond the reach of the general population. For this Dr Saxena suggests parents should specifically take episodes of sore throat seriously and prevent the disease in the initial stages itself.

Giving details about the symposium, Dr Anil Grover, Head of the Cardiology Department, said that the focus of the symposium was on prevention of the heart disorders. With a large number of population in developing countries, including ours, being affected by diseases like malaria, kala azar and other common disorders, talking and discussing heart diseases seems irrelevant. However, the fact is heart disorders affect a major chunk of population, he added.

As per recent research reports, congenital, rheumatic and coronary heart diseases affect as much as five to six percent of our population every year. Which means that there are about 50 to 60 million persons suffering from various heart disorders in India, out of which 15 million patients are of coronary artery disease alone, said Dr Grover.

According to Dr Grover, the focus of the meet is on prevention of the disease. Prevention is the process of warding off the threatened onset of disease and in majority of heart disorders this aspect plays an important role with an active patient participation in it.

The conference was inaugurated by Prof S.K. Sharma, Director, PGI, whereas Dr S.C. Manchanda, Department of Cardiology, PGI, in a keynote address deliberated upon the cardiovascular epidemic and challenges for India in the 21st century. He said that Indians as a race are at the highest risk of suffering from coronary artery disease.

Whenever population migrates from the rural to urban or goes to countries, they suffer from the significant risk of coronary artery disease, said Dr Manchanda. The peculiarities of our coronary patients is that although the conventional risk factors like hypertension, diabetes, smoking and hyper cholesterolemia are important, factors like lioproteins —a homocysteine and fibrogen are also increasingly recognised. He cautioned that unless extensive measures were taken at the individual and national level, the epidemic of coronary artery disease is likely to go out of hand and become the major killer by the year 2020.

Earlier, in the Prof P.L. Wahi memorial session, specialists discussed various aspects of coronary artery disease, including its prevention and treatment in diabetic population and the clinical application of gene therapy in cardiovascular disease. H.N. Khatri Memorial session was dedicated to hypertension.

Prof V.S. Banka from USA talked about evolving strategies in the management of acute myocardial infarction. He specified the role of angioplasty in management of acute infarction.

Other speakers included Dr Gurpreet Singh Wander from Ludhiana and Dr Adarsh Kumar from Amritsar.

12 city doctors to be felicitated
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 24 — During its VII annual function to be held in the city tomorrow, the Chandigarh Clinical Laboratories (CCL) will felicitate 12 senior doctors in recognition and appreciation of valuable services rendered to the city .

These include Prof V.K. Kak, Prof M.S. Sekhon, Prof Sunit Singhi, Prof Pratibha Bakshi, Prof Yogesh Chawla, Prof S.D. Deodhar, Prof Anil Bhansali, Prof R Murlidharan, Dr Umesh Jindal, Dr Mangala Dogra, Dr Indu Prabhkar and Dr A.S. Bawa.

Addressing the mediapersons, here today, Prof Harminder Singh, Director Consultant of CCL said the event coincides with the laboratory acquiring Vidas HIV DUO System for early detection of the HIV virus with a specificity of over 99.84 per cent.

Every day 16,000 persons throughout the world get infected with HIV, out of which every fifth person is an Indian which makes an early diagnosis an essential public health objective, he said.

Besides, with the latest electrophoresis-cum-densitometer system available, it is possible to best report the serum proteins and haemoglobin abnormalities.

SPORT

GCG-42, SC-46 lift titles
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Feb 24 — Government College for Girls, Sector 42, and Sports Complex, Sector 46, clinched the women and men titles, respectively, in the Senior Chandigarh State Basketball tournament which concluded this evening at Sports Complex, Sector 7. Both the winners upset the defending champions.

In women section, GCG-42 outplayed Sports Authority of India Training Centre, Sector 42, by a narrow margin of 28-27, which was scored in extra time. In the stipulated period, both the teams were level at 24-24.The half-time score was 20-14 in favour of GCG-42.

Kamaldeep was the top scorer for winners. She scored 11 points, followed by Gunveen, Sarita and Jatinder, who contributed eight, six and three points, respectively. For the losers, Amandeep and Manjula scored eight points each, while Harpreet netted four points and Shruti scored three points.

In men section, SC-46 was way ahead of Athletics Club-7, who were beaten 52-38. Half-time score was 23-20 in favour of the winners. The scorers of winners were, Harkanwar Singh 17, Vikas Rai 15, Nirpinderjit Singh 10, Gurpreet seven. For losers, Hari Malhotra 15, Arun Rana 11, Rakesh Verma four and Atul Kapoor scored three points.

Mr RP Garg, president of the Chandigarh Handball Association, gave away the prizes. Earlier in the morning, in final league matches, Athletics Club-7 beat SD College, Sector 32, by 65-55, scored in extra time. At the close of the match, the final scores read at 51-51. In women section, GCG-11 beat GCG-11 29-11.

College meet
The two-day annual athletics meet of Government College, Panchkula, concluded here today. The chief guest, Mr S.K. Monga , Deputy Commissioner, Panchkula, gave away the prizes. The best athlete among boys was Mohit Beniwall, while Sukhvinder was declared best athlete among girls.

In other results, Kamal secured first place in 10000 metres while Mr Deep was first in triple jump. Gurpreet secured first place in 200 metres and second in long jump and javelin throw.

Football tourney
The AG (Audit) Haryana, Chandigarh, outplayed the Director-General Audit, Central Revenue, New Delhi, football team by 2-0 to win the North Zone Audit Football Tournament, which concluded at the Football Stadium, Sector 17, here today. The half-time score was 1-0 in favour of AG Audit. Right striker Rajesh Sharma and right winger Suraj Kumar of the Audit scored first and second goal, respectively, in 39th and 78th minutes of the match.

The match began on cautious note as both the teams were quite balanced and had many national players on their side. Deepak with an angular shot in 39th minute scored the first goal for home team.

After lemon break, Delhi team forwards tried hard to equalise and mounted pressure on the rival defence as the Haryana players had started playing defensive game. Finally in the 78th minute, Suraj scored the second goal of the match. Both the finalists have qualified to take part in the Inter-Zonal Audit Football Tournament which will be played at Hyderabad next month. Suraj of Haryana and Hitender Rawat of Delhi team were jointly declared ‘man of the match’. Mr Bhagi Ram, MLA, Haryana, gave away the prizes.

Australian bodybuilder in Chandigarh
By Arvind Katyal

CHANDIGARH, Feb 24 — Mr Australia 1998, Ray Walton, was in a private fitness centre here today. He had stopped here on way to Patiala where he was to attend the marriage ceremony of one of his trainees, Gurvinder Singh Bassi, an NRI who lives in Perth (Australia).

Walton had trained Lorretta Macmillan, Miss Australia, Miss World and Miss Universe in figure fitness event. Walton said the public interest in body-building here was impressive. He said the Chandigarh Body-Building Association was giving a good exposure to its trainees. He also gave tips to Mr Junior Chandigarh, Gopal, on how to manage his body. He was also impressed by the achievements of another trainee of this centre, Hardeep Singh, who has represented India in various international meets.

Walton would take part in this year’s World Body-Building Championship 2001 in class I to be held in Spain this June. He said he was training 20 youngsters at his coaching centre in Perth. Walton at 101 kg was determined to increase his weight to 110 kg before appearing in this world meet. He told that Gurinder Bassi was a dedicated body builder.

On the question of standard of bodybuilders of Australia, he said they were in the top five of the world. Walton said for a bodybuilder, lot of dedication required, with patience and temperament.

Mr Sudhir Goel, treasurer of the CBBA, told that they had offered Mr Walton to make a plan for their upcoming youngsters to guide them in their training. He could also come and stay here for a month to have interaction with trainees. Walton was ready to accept its proposal and said he would like to come in his lean period. He admitted that the sport was quite expensive but if one had passion for the sport, nothing could deter a bodybuilder.