Determined towards promoting a healthy heart

An electrophysiology (EP) study is a test that is performed to assess your heart’s electrical system or activity and is used to diagnose abnormal heartbeats or arrhythmia.Today, for our weekly edition of the Community Wise, we bring to you the Heart Rhythm Society, which aims to provide leadership in the management of Heart Rhythm disorders in India.

Shikha Duggal

The Heart Rhythm Society, established in 1979, has been led by some of the most accomplished and distinguished cardiac pacing and electrophysiology professionals.
“Recently, the Indian Heart Rhythm Society held a Walkathon from Grand Hyatt, with the aim to raise awareness and promote the concept of a healthy heart to deal with a sudden cardiac arrest,” said Dr Vinita Arora, Cardiac Electrophysiologist.

Their technological advances have introduced new ways to facilitate care outside clinical settings and support health monitoring and promotion of wellness in home and community settings. “Telehealth has become much more widely used in recent years because of this, the Heart Rhythm Society has partnered with the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association too, in order to develop telehealth resources to advance the use of this type of care. Because a sudden cardiac arrest claims a life every 90 seconds and refers to the abrupt loss of heart function resulting from a problem with the heart’s electrical system. It disrupts the heart’s pumping action and stops blood flow to the body.”

Also, an interventional cardiologist from the society continues, “Sudden cardiac arrest is one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide. And for survival, time is of the essence. The survival rate could be doubled or tripled if more people take timely required action. 70% of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur at home, so it becomes more important for people around patients to know what needs to be done.”

Their recent campaign including The Heart Rhythm Society, through its efforts during Atrial Fibrillation Awareness Month in September and throughout the year, is working to increase public knowledge about atrial fibrillation, including its symptoms, warning signs, and treatments. In October, the Heart Rhythm Society also launched a multi-year, national awareness campaign, Arrest the Risk in an effort to elevate the issue of preventing sudden cardiac arrest, early intervention, and appropriate treatment among the Hispanic populations increasing awareness of disparities at the point of care and reduce mortality and re-hospitalization rates from sudden cardiac arrest.

“The society’s award-winning apples and oranges campaign use a simple analogy to educate people about the difference between a heart attack and sudden cardiac arrest. The campaign targets heart attack survivors, who are at the highest risk for sudden cardiac arrest, and stresses the importance of maintaining a healthy heart lifestyle and learning critical risk markers, especially their ejection fraction, which is the percentage of blood pumped out of the left ventricle with each heartbeat. One of the major distinguishing factors between sudden cardiac arrest and a heart attack is that people who have the former will not have a pulse. A heart attack is caused when blood flow to a part of the heart is blocked, though, at times, a heart attack can trigger a sudden cardiac arrest if it causes an electrical disturbance in the heart.”

A case in point was an 18-year-old tennis player, who collapsed after finishing his warm-up match recently! His teammate immediately jumped into action and started giving him CPR while the coach got an automated external defibrillator and simultaneously called for medical support. The player survived. This case reiterates the importance of timely intervention in society.

Talking about the condition, Dr A M Karthigesan, consultant electrophysiologist at Apollo also said, “A majority of these cases will occur in the general population who are not known to have heart disease. Though the peak prevalence of it is in the geriatric group, we have seen the age trend change in the last few years.There is a rise in prevalence from 30 years with peaks at 50 to 70 years.The existence of a large substrate of undiagnosed coronary artery disease in a younger population contributing to it is a major health issue in India that merits focused designing of effective preventive strategies.Therefore, we are focusing on the early diagnosis of cardiac disease and on-time treatment.”