Cardiac VCT in Ibrahim Cardiac Hospital launched

Dhaka, Mar 25 (BDNEWS) – Cardiac physicians Saturday said no cardiac patient needs to go abroad for diagnosis and treatment purposes from now on as the country installed the Cardiac VCT, a state-of-the-art technology.

More than 30 percent of the total cardiac patients that is 10 per cent of the total population go abroad for the cardiovascular diseases due to lack of satisfaction as well as confidence in the local treatment, physicians said adding that the scenario would change now.

Ibrahim Cardiac Hospital and Research Institute (ICHRI) in collaboration with Bangladesh Business Corporation (bbc) has introduced the Lightspeed Cardiac VCT, the 4th diagnostic tool in South Asia worth Tk 14 crore with an offer of a most modern non-invasive diagnostic option of the heart as an alternative to invasive angiogram.

While inaugurating the Volumetric CT Angiogram facility as the chief guest, Information Minister M Shamsul Islam said that it is the doctor's duty to offer patients a sound treatment and the technology would help in this regard.

The Minister urged physicians to support the Ibrahim Cardiac Hospital guiding patients to take the latest treatment facility.

Chairman of Ibrahim Cardiac Hospital Manzur Elahi and Secretary General of Diabetic Association of Bangladesh Prof AK Azad Khan also spoke on the occasion.

bbc chairman Enamul Malik said the system was introduced to facilitate lower income group who could not afford the treatment cost. The bbc that went to private-to-private partnership with the ICHRI would always support the ICHRI in research-oriented works along with the installation of latest medical tools in future, he added.

The cost of per cardiac CT angiogram will be Tk 12,000 to 14,000, according to the ICHRI authorities.

Naresh Norashimhan, Business Manager of CT (South Asia) in his keynote speech said that cardiac CT angiogram is a new, risk-free, non-invasive technology to obtain clear 3-D images of the heart. It is also very useful in evaluating the stenotic artery, both interiorly and exteriorly, and in doing calcium scoring in the coronary vessels, he added.

The three-dimensional anatomical and two-dimensional multiaxial views of the heart that are produced can be used to detect abnormal heart muscles and valves. It can also calculate parameters indicating heart function, such as stroke volume, ejection fraction, cardiac output, right and left ventricular functions, the expert said.

The cardiac CT, not a traditional angiogram, can detect a very early stage of arteriosclerosis instable soft plaques, which may often go undetected in cardiac catheterisation angiogram (CAG).

It is equally useful in coronary artery bypass graft potency evaluation to detect aortic augury aneurysms and suspected dissection to identify pulmonary embolism and can embroil up to fourth order segmental vessels.

Preoperative evaluation of abdominal aortic aneurysms can also be undertaken using this new technology.

Norashimhan said before cardiac CT came into the scene of clinical diagnosis, it was next to impossible to ascertain whether a patient with angina had cardiovascular disease without an invasive procedure.

BDNEWS/1712 hrs