TAR Technique to Mend Ailing Hearts Remains Untapped by Medicos
Even when the number of heart ailments among youngsters show a sharp upward trend, Total Arterial Revascularisation (TAR), the most plausible technique to treat these heart diseases in people and increase their lifespan is yet to gain popularity in the state. TAR is a method of coronary artery bypass grafting using arteries instead of the usual procedure which involves veins. Dr Jose Chacko Periappuram, senior cardiac surgeon, Lisie Hospital, who makes use of this technique consistently said that it’s high time the method is utilised optimally. “I carry out around 100 operations a month. Shockingly, 40 percent of the patients are below 50 years. This shows that there should be an increased awareness on the part of the doctors,” he said.
The doctor pointed out that TAR has been in vogue since 1998 in the state. “But owing to the risk factors involved, it would not be wrong to say that there are very few number of surgeons who perform this surgery,” he said. The surgeon testified that if the number of surgeons undertaking TAR is taken into account, it would not go beyond one or two. “ Unfortunately, these doctors are yet to perform it consistently,” he said.
Dr Periappuram said that the procedure of using veins for bypass graft surgery has many disadvantages. “Firstly, veins belong to the low pressure zone as the pressure inside them are comparatively low. Grafting veins which belong to a low pressure zone to a high pressure zone where the heart is located fails in handling the enormous pressure, thereby refusing to function after a short span of time. Hence, while using arteries which belong to a high pressure zone, we are extending the life span of a young patient,” he said.
Besides, in the case of TAR, the learning curve is quite lean. “There are no theoretical means of learning but practical ways. You have to put in tremendous effort to learn this method. Unfortunately, the will to learn the method is absent here,” he said. The young population is exposed to extra stress which is the major cause for increasing heart ailments among today’s youth, he said.
“The society is too repressed and stress creeps into them very early which is proving detrimental to the overall health of young people,” he said.