BLK Heart Centre

Introduction

BLK Heart Centre is a part of BLK Super Speciality Hospital – one of India’s largest, private sector, tertiary care hospitals. The Centre was conceived to provide state-of-the-art comprehensive cardiac care to the patients.

At the Heart Centre we have adopted a 'Heart Team' approach to care for patients with Cardiovascular diseases. As there have been many advances in surgery and cardiology, it is very important to maintain a rational approach. To plan the management of patients and deliver the best of care, the Heart Team comprising of Cardiac Surgeons, Cardiologists, Intensivists, Physicians, Cardiac Anaesthesiologists and Intensive Care Experts work in synergy providing the best possible outcomes.

The Centre’s team of experts is internationally recognized for their pioneering work in the field of Total Arterial Grafting, Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery, Coronary Bypass Surgery, Complex Congenital Cardiac Surgery, Surgery for Aneurysm including Endovascular and Hybrid procedures, Interventional Cardiac procedures of all kinds - from Electrophysiology and Coronary Angioplasty to Interventions for correction of congenital anomalies.

One of the Centres of Excellence of BLK Super Speciality Hospital, the BLK Heart Centre was conceived to provide a state of art fully equipped cardiac care centre to provide comprehensive services to our patients. The entire gamut of services from diagnostic non invasive services, nuclear scans, and CT imaging is available under one roof, as are top class Interventional cardiology, Interventional radiology and Neuro interventional services. A full range of Cardiac surgery and Vascular surgery hospital services complete the therapeutic armamentarium for providing patients with the best in class treatment that is their right.
 

Our Centre

The Heart Centre offers you a range of world-class treatments and services all under one roof: from Diagnostic Non-invasive Cardiology, Nuclear Scans, PET Scan and CT Imaging to top-class Interventional Cardiology, Interventional Radiology and Neuro Interventional services, including the full range of Cardiac and Vascular Surgeries.

Our dedicated team has performed more than 20000 Interventional procedures, ranging from complex Angioplasty Rotablation and Device Implantation to Endovascular and Congenital Heart procedures. With a combined team experience of over 25000 Cardiac Surgeries, more than 4000 Total Arterial Grafting and over 4000 Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgeries, the Heart Centre is well equipped to handle the most complex and critical cardiac cases.

Over the years, patrons from India as well as the Middle East, the African Subcontinent, Eastern Europe and other SAARC nations (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Sri Lanka etc.) have shown great faith in the expertise of our illustrious Heart Team.

New treatments

There have been many new developments in treating heart failure. If medication and lifestyle changes are not enough to control your symptoms, your doctor may suggest:

Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT)
A normal heart sends electrical signals to both lower chambers or "ventricles" of the heart to make them pump at the same time. Sometimes in heart failure patients, the two chambers do not pump together. A special pacemaker called CRT (a small battery-powered device) is placed under the skin that helps make the two sides of the heart beat in a coordinated manner. CRT is a pacemaker that tells both ventricles to pump at the same time, thus reducing your heart failure symptoms and increasing your ability to exercise and be more active.

Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD)
Some patients with heart failure have dangerously fast heartbeats called "Ventricular Tachycardia" or "Ventricular Fibrillation” which can cause serious symptoms such as fainting or even death. An ICD is like a pacemaker that can be inserted under your skin, with an aim to recognise a dangerous heartbeat. The ICD then returns it to a normal beat through an electrical signal. If your heart needs both CRT and ICD; they can be placed at the same time using one device.

Heart Pumps
A Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) is a mechanical pump inserted into your body to improve blood flow. When your heart is unable to pump enough blood to the various organs of your body, an open heart surgery is required to implant the mechanical pump. The VAD works together with your own heart to pump more effectively. VADs can stabilize your heart condition, thereby allowing you to become stronger and feel better. VADs are also used as an alternative to heart transplantation for patients who are waiting for a new heart.

Heart Transplantation
Heart Transplantation is an operation to replace a diseased heart with a healthy donor heart. Heart Transplantation is a treatment used for severe heart failure, when medication or surgery is ineffective. Heart Transplant can dramatically improve the survival and quality of life of patients with severe heart failure. However, transplant candidates often have to wait for a long time before a suitable donor heart is available.

• Authorisation Committee Meeting

BLK Heart Failure Clinic
BLK Heart Centre runs a Heart Failure Clinic dedicated to patients with heart failure. Patients are educated about the cause and treatment of heart failure and proper counselling is done to stabilise their symptoms. Our focus is to avoid unnecessary hospitalisations and improve quality of life of heart failure patients. The Centre offers a patient and family-centered approach to care.

Cardiac Care

The Heart Centre has dedicated specialist units, which are further streamlined into various sub-disciplines of ‘Cardiac Care’. These include:

• Clinical and Critical Cardiology
• Non-invasive Cardiology
• Interventional Cardiology
• Electrophysiology and Arrhythmia Services
• Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery

Clinical and Critical Cardiology

Whatever be your age – we offer you the latest innovations in Cardiac Care and Clinical Therapies. Our advanced tests and procedures help us in making accurate diagnosis and develop a personalised treatment plan for you. Critically ill cardiac patients with comorbidities are managed in our state-of-the-art Heart Centre with robust support from multidisciplinary medical experts.

We take pride in treating and caring for not only those who have very common heart problems such as Angina, Coronary Artery, Valvular Heart Disease, Rhythm Disorder and Heart Failure, but also those who are suffering from very rare forms of heart diseases, which fail to find a cure at other leading hospitals.

To provide you the best possible care, our Cardiologists use a broad range of treatment options. They also work very closely with our team of Cardiovascular Surgeons, should surgery be your preferred treatment of choice.

Clinical Care Cardiology

The dedicated Cardiac OPD facility offers you the highest standard of professional medical care and services for all types of heart diseases. Here, you will be in the expert hands of experienced Interventional Cardiologists and Cardiovascular Thoracic Surgeons, while highly qualified nurses and technicians will look after you with the most advanced equipment and technology available.

Our specialized Cardiac Clinics offer you an extensive range of cardiac services supported by the latest in cardiac technology, team of highly skilled medical experts and allied health professionals. The various specialized Cardiac Clinics committed to support and serve you at the Heart Centre are:

• Arrhythmia and Pacemaker Clinic
• Hypertension Clinic
• Heart Failure Clinic
• Valve Heart Disease Clinic
• PH (Pulmonary Hypertension) Clinic

Critical Care Cardiology

Critical Care Cardiology is a well-equipped 24-bed Intensive Coronary Care Unit, staffed with trained medical experts who provide round-the-clock multidisciplinary, comprehensive care to the patients suffering from critical heart diseases. To give you complete peace of mind, the unit is equipped with world-class, technologically advanced monitoring equipment and certified staff to administer emergency services 24x7.

Non-invasive Cardiology

The BLK Heart Centre has a dedicated Heart Station, which is well equipped with instruments and machines of latest technology to offer you a wide range of Diagnostic Cardiology procedures:

• 2D / 3D Echo, Colour Doppler
• 2D / 3D TEE (Transesophageal Echocardiography)
• Strain Rate Imaging
• Contrast 2D Echo / TEE
• TMT, Exercise and Dobutamine Stress Echocardiogram
• Dyssynchrony Assessment Echo
• Holter Examination, Ambulatory BP Monitoring
• Vascular Doppler
• 128 Slice / CT Coronary Angiography
• HUTT

Enhanced External Counter Pulsation Therapy (EECP)

EECP is an economical, non-invasive alternative treatment for Refractory Stable Angina and Heart Failure patients when drug therapy is found to be ineffective and revascularization procedure is not feasible. The procedure helps in building new vessels around blocked arteries, facilitating blood flow to the heart.

Nuclear Cardiology

This fully equipped Nuclear Cardiology Unit offers you advanced services like Te99 SPECT Nuclear Cardiac Scans, PET Scans for Myocardial Viability Studies, Cardiac MRI, Renal Perfusion Scans, and MIBG Scans for Pheochromocytoma Detection. Managed by highly trained experts who work in close cooperation with Cardiologists, the unit facilitates diagnosis and prognostic information related to various cardiac disorders.

Interventional Cardiology

BLK Heart Centre offers you a wide range of Interventional procedures in Cardiology. The Invasive Cardiology Department has accomplished complex Coronary Angioplasties including Rotablation, FFR guided PCI for Intermediate Lesions, Endovascular procedures like Aortoiliac Angioplasty and stent placement, Aortic Aneurysm, Dissection Management, Carotid Stenting and Birth Defects. These procedures are assisted by imaging guidance such as IVUS and OCT used in complex Angioplasties and 3D TEE, CT Imaging during structural heart procedures.

Our state-of–the-art Biplane Cath Labs provide comprehensive cardiac care, supported by dedicated staff members who are available round-the-clock. The unit has achieved record time protocols in primary Angioplasty (Acute Heart Attack Angioplasty).

Electrophysiology and Arrhythmia Services

Internationally trained experts with vast experience in life saving procedures perform EP Study and Radiofrequency Ablation using 3-dimensional mapping for complex Tachycardia

Devices in heart failure pacing like AICD and Combo Implantations are some of the complex procedures undertaken by the Electrophysiology team at the Heart Centre.

What's more, here medical experts treat Endovascular and congenital birth defects non-surgically at the world-class facility using 3D TEE facility.

Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery Facilities and Services

We are proud to have the most experienced Cardiothoracic and Vascular surgical team in the entire country. Our surgical team has a vast experience of performing all types of Cardiac procedures like – Coronary Bypass Surgery, Midcab, Surgery for Valve Disease, Surgery for Aneurysm and Arrhythmia, management of Heart Failure with various surgical procedures including LVAD and Transplant is also available. All types of Thoracic, VATS as well as Vascular procedures are also performed here.

Coronary Arteries Bypass Surgery

At the Heart Centre we are constantly leveraging the latest in research and medical advancements to directly benefit you.

Most Coronary Bypass patients require grafting of the three main native coronary arteries. Current evidence supports a policy of increased use of Arterial Grafts during CABG, bilateral internal mammary arteries in particular.

It has been proved beyond doubt that the Arterial Graft not only stays patent for a long time, but also reduces the incidence of re-operations after CABG. However, it’s unfortunate that almost 90% of patients who undergo Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting have their leg veins used.

With a vast experience of over 25000 Cardiac Operations and over 4000 Total Arterial Bypass Operations (BIMA), we are using Arterial Grafts in almost 85% of our patients with no cuts on legs.

Potentially diabetic patients gain the most from BIMA grafts as they often have a more severe, diffuse and distal disease.

Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery (MICS)

It is a well-known fact that Cardiac Surgery has excellent long-term benefits. However, with Midline Sternotomy and Cardiopulmonary Bypass, there’s high morbidity during the postoperative period. Opening the chest by Sternotomy is not only very traumatic, but also the most invasive part of Cardiac Surgery. With advancements in the field of Minimally Access Surgery, it is now possible to use this technique in most Cardiac Operations. Cardiac Surgeries can be performed through small thoracotomy incisions either on the right or left chest. This avoids both Midline Sternotomy and the morbidity associated with it.

At the BLK Heart Centre, we perform almost all types of adult Cardiac Operations using Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery (MICS). In fact, the Minimally Invasive approach is not only restricted to adults but has also been used in pediatric cases as well.

The advantages of MICS include:

• Small thoracotomy incision
• Less pain
• Less risk of infection
• Reduced ICE and shorter hospital stay
• Improved postoperative pulmonary function
• Early recovery
• Improved cosmetic results
• Improved quality of life

Heart Failure and Transplant

Our ‘Heart Team’ approach to patients of heart failure offers the best long-term solution to a terminal condition, which has poor prognosis if not managed by experts.

We not only have vast experience and world-class infrastructure, but also facilities that help provide modern medical treatment. To deliver the finest care to patients, we also have experienced Cardiologists and Surgeons who treat them with ICD, conduct Cardiac Resynchronization Therapies, and perform LVAD and Heart Transplants with precision.

The Aorta Centre

There are various ways to treat Aortic diseases. With the team of Cardiologists, Cardiac Surgeons and Interventional Radiologists, we customise our management of patients with complex Aneurysm. Various investigations like 2D Echocardiography, CT Angiography and Cardiac Catheterization are available at the Centre. We have one of the best results of hybrid treatment for Aneurysm, which minimizes the incision and reduces operative time with quick recovery.

Centre for Valvular Diseases

There are various ways in which a Valvular Lesion can be treated. Our surgical team at the BLK Heart Centre has some of the best Valve Surgeons who are experts in Valve Repair Surgery with very positive results. This can be combined with Minimal Access Surgery to get the best results for you. The other option includes Valve Replacement. If the patient has associated Atrial Fibrillation, a Maze procedure can be performed along with Valve Surgery to give maximum benefit.

Community Heart Awareness and Prevention Program (CHAPP)

The BLK Heart Centre has a proud tradition of giving back to the community where it serves. We launched the Community Heart Awareness & Prevention Program (CHAPP) as a sincere effort to promote awareness about Cardiac diseases across the nation. With the aim of reaching out to as many people as possible, the program entitles participants to several benefits such as free health check-up, consultation with Sr. Cardiologists, health education and subsidized health packages for various diagnostic procedures.