French legacy in Puducherry is getting stronger with cardiologists from France, Hospital Lariboisiere, University of Paris, playing a leading role in imparting skills of newer cutting-edge technologies for treatment of coronary artery diseases to cardiologists in JIPMER and Indira Gandhi Government General Hospital and Post Graduate Institute (IGGGH&PGI) in association with cardiologists of the two hospitals in Puducherry for the sixth year.
After nearly 200 years since JIPMER’s inception as Ecole de Medicine during the French regime, the bond between the medical fraternity of France and JIPMER and IGGGH&PGI has grown deeper.
As part of the collaboration that began in 2009 under India French Radial Intervention course (IFRIC), so far five such annual workshops on diagnosis and treatment of cardiac diseases have been conducted through the annual visits by the cardiology team from France and the sixth one in progress (May 8 to 10), said T S Tavikumar, director of JIPMER. The efforts are to gain expertise in non-invasive procedures, to impart modern techniques, to optimise patient care and to provide integrated care through a team of doctors, nurses working as a team, he said.
Cardiologists across the country are trained in advanced coronary interventions including trans-radial angioplasty, intra-vascular ultra sound, optical coherence tomography and rotoblator through the workshops, said Dr Santosh Sateesh, Additional Professor, Department of Cardiology, JIPMER.
This year, around 150 cardiologists are expected to be trained. JIPMER has acquired two new equipment namely Optical Coherence Tomography(OCT) at a cost of ` 1.2 crore and Rotablater at around ` 60 lakh in January and February this year. Cardiologists have given training on OCT technique. Through this, the inside of the artery can be visualised through use of laser light, which is immensely useful in precisely understanding the problem. It is far more superior to angiogram on which cardiologists depend for assessing the arterial blocks. It also helps in avoiding surgery for removal of blocks.
Apart from these, French cardiologists have given training on radial access intervention, intravascular ultra sound and fractional flow reserve, said Dr Patrick Henry, professor of cardiology and Head, Department of Interventional Cardiology, Hospital Lariboisiere, who led the team of four faculty members and. Dr Patrick Plaisance, Head of Emergency Medicine, Lariboisiere, and his team also had demonstrated the advanced emergency care and the pre-hospital care in cardiac diseases, said Dr Ravikumar.