Blog

17 Apr

When temperature rises, stay cool

Introduction: A billboard on Interstate 94 in Illinois (USA) read, “Your wife is hot; fix your AC”. As funny as this sounded, it emphasised the need to keep the ambient temperature cool. The health hazards of high heat are quite obvious. A simple dehydration can quickly turn into heat exhaustion. Heat cramps are often the […]

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15 Apr

General check up for heart

Introduction: Everyone should get a routine medical check-up for heart health, not just because of some sensational news of some celebrity dying due to a heart attack. Unfortunately, heart disease is prevalent, and is often unpredictable. Heart disease is responsible for the majority of the deaths and disability worldwide. Keeping our hearts healthy and happy […]

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15 Apr

Exercise and heart disease

Introduction: Here is a simple advice I give to my patients: If you don’t have any heart problems, exercise! If you have heart problems, definitely exercise! Benefits of physical exercise: 1. Exercise helps you maintain a healthy weight. Exercise is not an efficient tool for losing weight, as explained here. Moderate to high-intensity exercise replaces […]

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30 Mar

Aortic Stenosis: What It Means

Introduction Aortic Stenosis (AS) refers to a clinical scenario where the Aortic Valve (AoV) doesn’t open well, causing an impediment to blood flow from the heart to the rest of the body. This leads to the heart working against resistance which adds undue stress to the heart. If this scenario is left unchecked for a […]

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30 Mar

All About Blood Thinners

Introduction: Anticoagulants (blood thinners) are a group of medicines that decrease the human body’s ability to form blood clots. They don’t really ‘thin’ the blood, but the term ‘blood thinner’ is often used to help people understand. The human body has an inherent capacity to form and destroy blood clots, and this process happens continuously […]

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30 Mar

Coronary Angiography: Ideas, Concepts, and Expectations

Introduction: Taking a direct look at the heart’s blood vessels (known as coronary arteries) is called ‘Coronary Angiography’ (CAG). Click here for more information on coronary angiography and angioplasty. Your cardiologist may suggest you undergo a CAG if he/she suspects blockages in your heart blood vessels. Such suspicion may arise from routine medical examinations or […]

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29 Mar

Heart Valves: Too Tight or Too Leaky

What is a valve? A valve is a “device for controlling the passage of fluid or air through a pipe, duct, etc.” We all have encountered valves in our lives. A tire (or Tyre) valve is one example which allows air to be injected into the tire and doesn’t allow air to escape unless it […]

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29 Mar

Understanding Coronary Angiography and Angioplasty

Let us decode the medical verbatim first. Below are a few commonly used terms and their meaning. Cardiac: related to heart Coronary artery: blood vessels that supply blood to the heart Angiography: the process of looking at coronary arteries Angioplasty: the process of fixing a blocked or damaged coronary artery Introduction: Your doctor may recommend […]

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28 Mar

The true cost of ‘low-cost’

This article was initially published on TheHindu.com. Introduction: The Indian healthcare system can reasonably be characterized as low-cost by global standards but still unaffordable to most of the Indian population. For-profit private setups provide a majority of healthcare services in urban India, in the backdrop of a virtually non-existent non-profit or government establishment. With an […]

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28 Mar

Chest Pain: A Nightmare

Introduction: While chest pain is classically associated with a heart attack, there are certain things worth noticing. Not every chest pain is a heart attack, and not every heart attack presents with chest pain. There is always some level of diagnostic uncertainty that doctors take into account before reaching a conclusion. If we leave out […]

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28 Mar

Second Opinion: Why, What, When, How?

Introduction: Obtaining an expert opinion is an essential component of medical decision-making. Sometimes, even after an expert opinion, one may not get satisfactory information to make an informed decision. There can be many reasons for that. While lack of expertise, trust, or empathy are valid reasons for being critical of a professional opinion, our biases […]

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28 Mar

Medical Specialists: Who does what?

Introduction: Over the last century, medicine has evolved into a sophisticated complex science requiring a set of specialized skills to decode and analyze all the available clinical data and deduce an expert conclusion. For this reason, the entire field of medicine is divided into various sub-specialities, with each expert gaining the required depth of knowledge […]

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27 Mar

Blood Cholesterol: Good, Bad, and Ugly

Introduction: Blood cholesterol is a term often used to describe the circulating fat content in our blood. Circulating fat molecules combine with certain proteins to produce various fat-protein structures, which are labelled based on their size, weight, and role in overall metabolism. A standard blood test, called a “Lipid Profile,” typically lists all the major […]

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27 Mar

Questions You Asked

Here are some of the questions patients have frequently asked over the past few years. I used to have high blood pressure (BP) before. Since I started taking medicines for it, BP is now under control. Can I stop my medicines now? The fact that your BP got under control after you have been put […]

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26 Mar

TAVR/TAVI (Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement/Implantation)

Introduction: TAVR or TAVI refers to a minimally invasive procedure in which an artificial bioprosthetic valve is implanted into the human heart using a catheter in a suture-less fashion. To read about heart valves, click here Transcatheter Heart Valve (THV) is an artificial valve made from the outer covering of animal hearts (called pericardium). Such […]

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25 Mar

Blood Pressure Basics

Introduction: Blood pressure (BP) is the ‘pressure’ that ‘blood’ exerts on the vessel (tubes that carry blood) wall. There are 2 basic concepts to understand. First, blood flow through the vessels is dynamic. It increases when the heart contracts, and decreases when the heart relaxes. Due to this, blood pressure also increases during heart contraction […]

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24 Mar

Why is angioplasty so expensive?

Introduction: The cost of angioplasty had been a concern on numerous occasions and was addressed, in part, by price capping of coronary stents (metal scaffolds put inside blood vessels of the heart to keep the vessels open) in 2017 by NPPA. The overall cost of angioplasty may sometimes exceed that of cardiac bypass surgery and may […]

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23 Mar

Stent vs Bypass: Which is better?

Introduction: Narrowing or blockages of the blood vessels of the heart (coronary arteries) are mostly due to cholesterol deposits and can lead to a heart attack if not managed on time. Such narrowing is referred to as Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) and is responsible for most lives lost across the globe. While prevention is always […]

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23 Mar

Hypertension: 9 Basic Things Everyone Should Know

Introduction: An increase in blood pressure (BP) beyond what is considered normal is called Hypertension. Hypertension is one of the most common diseases and can affect almost every organ of the human body. Hypertension is increasingly being diagnosed at a much younger age now, and far more people report poorly controlled blood pressure even on […]

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18 Nov

Recording blood pressure at home: Are you following the cardinal rules?

Introduction: As blood travels through the human body’s arteries, it exerts pressure on its walls. This pressure, so-called blood pressure (BP), is maintained within an acceptable range by the body’s regulatory mechanisms. To understand the basic physiology of blood pressure, click here. Hypertension is a condition where blood pressure is consistently higher than what can […]

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18 Nov

Weight Loss: Do The Math

Introduction: Every new year brings blessings, hope, and…resolutions. The average lifespan of a New Year resolution is about 7 days (I made up this number), but be truthful …didn’t you promise yourself last year that you would lose weight and then celebrate the new year with pizza and beer? Let us face it, weight loss […]

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18 Nov

Time Your Medicines Right

Introduction: I am reasonably certain that most of you have, at least once, wondered when is the right time to take your medicines. It happens to be the most common question asked of doctors. While the answer is not quite straightforward, there are certain thumb rules one can apply that work in most situations. This […]

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