Dr. Ramesh Kawar

A heart attack can wreak havoc, throwing a person's life completely off balance. The condition, also known as Myocardial Infarction, often catches a person unawares. As per a survey, close to 7.35 lakhs people (both men and women) suffer from a cardiac arrest and associated disorders in the US every year. Early diagnosis and preventive measures can make a world of difference. Unfortunately, many people ignore or tend to miss out on the early symptoms characteristic of a heart attack.

A heart attack can be very much averted. All you need to do is, listen to your body and pay attention to the following warning signs. Act before it is too late.

1. Indigestion, nausea: Nausea, vomiting or indigestion is important, yet most commonly ignored early symptoms of a heart attack. More common in women than their male counterparts, the symptoms are often mistaken for over exhaustion or stomach upset. Nausea, in particular, can be triggered by many conditions and hence the negligence. A person may also complain of stomach ache or heart burns.Though the symptoms may appear to be nothing serious, seeking an immediate medical assistance will not hurt either. A little alertness will only help you in the long run.
2. Pain and discomfort in the chest: This is a warning that should be taken seriously by all means. This symptom can be an indication of a condition as serious as a blocked artery, an important trigger for a heart attack.
3. Dizziness: Seldom will you find people losing their sleep over something as common as dizziness. While the lack of a sound sleep can make a person feel dizzy and light headed, the symptom (often accompanied by chest pain) could also be an outcome of a low BP (triggered by improper functioning of the heart). Look for the symptoms carefully and act accordingly.
4. Sharp pain episodes: Many people experience a sharp pain that originates in the chest and gradually spreads outward towards the arms. The symptom is a clear indication of a heart problem, ignoring which will only spell doom. Sometimes the pain can also spread to the jaw or the throat.The symptom is a strong warning that your heart needs immediate care and attention.
5. Sudden and unexplained sweating: Sweating due to hot and scorching summer is understood but unexplained sweating can be dangerous.
6. Over exhaustion: If small or regular chores that you could do in the wink of an eye are suddenly leaving you tired and exhausted (climbing the stairs for instance), it is time for you to consult a doctor.
7. Irregular heartbeat: The irregular beating of the heart can also be an indication of a heart problem.
8. Swollen feet: A heart problem can interfere with the ability of the heart to pump blood. As a result, the affected person may have swollen feet, ankles, and legs.
9. Cough: A cough that lingers for long (often accompanied with a pink mucus) is an important indication of a damaged or diseased heart.

Open heart surgery is a heart procedure. Although the number of open heart surgeries performed over the past few decades has reduced significantly, however, it is still an important surgical procedure to fix critical heart ailments.

Here is a quick fact-checker about this procedure:

• The Coronary Artery Bypass Graft or CABG is one of the frequently performed procedures in the open-heart surgery space. This is a procedure that is related to fixing the blocked arteries of the heart. A study conducted by the National Institutes of Health revealed that most patients who had undergone CABG become angina-free within a span of five years.
• This is one of the few surgeries where a doctor needs to make a deep incision close to 2-2.5 inch through the breastbone to separate muscle and get access to the heart.
• The patient is hooked to a heart-lung machine before the proceedings begin. This machine pushes blood to the body. It helps the doctor to stop the heart and perform the procedure. Once the procedure is over, the doctor closes the incision made through the breastbone with sternal wires. Then the surgeon gives a minor electric shock to the patient to restart the heart. Subsequently, the patient is taken off from the heart-lung machine.
• The patient might find himself tangled with many tubes as he wakes for the first time after the surgery. These wires take the fluid out of the body. They serve as a temporary pacemaker for the patient.
• It is important to get a clarification from the surgeon as to from which location of the body would the veins be taken from to perform CABG. Most doctors prefer the vein from the leg. However, recent studies have shown that veins can be extracted from the internal chest wall. This results in a speedy recovery for the patient.
• The patient is kept in an ICU for a couple of days before he is shifted to the general ward where he spends close to a couple of weeks before he is released. After the patient gets home, the typical recovery time for the patient is approximately 6-8 weeks.
• One has to usually deal with heightened emotions after an open-heart surgery. Studies have shown that over 20 percent of the CABG patients suffer from depression, anger, and other emotional problems. This typically lasts for a year till everything becomes normal.

In case you have a concern or query you can always consult an expert & get answers to your questions!

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR is an activity that should be learnt by everybody. It’s a skill that comes handy at the time of the crisis. Owing to the fact that 90 percent of the overall cardiac related conditions occur outside the hospital, learning CPR becomes essential. A person with the knowledge of CPR can save the life of a patient in those crucial seconds when life hangs in the balance. Here is a brief know how about CPR and the way it is done:

Before CPR is started:
It is necessary to tap the patient on the shoulder and ask if he is fine. If the answer is not in the affirmative, seeking medical help is the best possible alternative. If medical help such as ambulance is out of reach, starting the CPR is the best possible way to go.

CPR for children above 9 years:
The patient should be laid on their back and the person intending to give the CPR should kneel next to the shoulder and neck of the patient. The heel of one hand should be placed to the center of the chest of the patient. The heel of the other hand should be placed over the lace and first fingers together. The elbow of the person intending to give the CPR should be kept straight and the shoulder should be aligned directly over the hands. Thus, begins the process of compression as hard as possible. The aim should be to compress at least 100 times within a single minute. The chest should be given the chance to arise fully in between each compression. One small hat tip in this regard is to give the CPR in the disco mode. One beat at a time.

CPR for infants and children below 9 years:
Before starting the CPR, the head should be tilted backward and the chin should be lifted upward to open the passage for the airway. In case the breathing is absent, either of the below-mentioned rescue breaths should be applied:

1. For a child, the nose should be shut and mouth should be completely sealed.
2. For an infant, the seal is applicable on the mouth and the nose both.

This should be followed by blowing in the mouth till the chest has a visible rise. There should at least be 30 chest compressions given to the patient within a minute. While For a child the chest should be pushed with one or two hands, for an infant, the chest should be pushed with no more than three fingers. The above steps should be repeated three to four times.

In case you have a concern or query you can always consult an expert & get answers to your questions!