Four undergo ground-breaking cardiac procedure at Woodlands Hospital

May 20, 2018 News

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A ground-breaking cardiac procedure was yesterday for the first time conducted in Guyana at the Woodlands Hospital. The procedure, cardiac electrophysiology, caters to patients who suffer from heart rhythm disorder.
Taking the lead to conduct the procedure yesterday was Interventional Cardiologist and Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiologist, Dr. Mahendra Carpen. By early afternoon two patients were able to successfully undergo the cutting edge procedure which served not as a treatment but rather as a cure for this cardiac condition.
“We are doing something that is historically the first ever in Guyana and it now brings us to one of the very few territories in the Caribbean, Caricom in particular, that can offer this service to patients suffering heart rhythm disorder,” said Dr, Carpen ,yesterday.
“Essentially if you think of the heart as having its own electrical system, this is the science that involves the study of the electrical system and fixing problems relating to the electrical system of the heart.”
According to Dr. Carpen, many people who have electrical problems of the heart complain about palpitation, dizziness, increased heart beats and even skipping heart beats.

“Various people have various symptoms. Sometimes they say they feel a fluttering and basically our job is to find out what kind of issue is causing that problem with these patients. Then we can fix it,” said Dr. Carpen.
Ms. Janice Jackson, the first patient to undergo the procedure yesterday said that she was first diagnosed with the condition in the United States after she developed palpitations in 2014. She noted that although the palpitations were not constant, when they did occur they were quite debilitating.
Upon her return to Guyana she became a patient of Dr. Carpen who has over the years been treating her condition. She was ready and willing to be among the inaugural batch of patients to receive the procedure.
“I am hoping that I can come off of medication…I have been taking medication every day since 2014, so I am hoping for the best,” said Jackson.
Fixing the problem Dr. Carpen said, entailed the use of radio frequency energy to burn the abnormal electrical circuit in the heart. This process usually entails gaining access to a vein through the patient’s right leg.
Although the patient is not required to be asleep during the procedure, Dr. Carpen said, “We would numb the area very well so there is no pain involved as we push several wires up a vein into all the way into the heart and position them at various places [in the heart] then we apply electrical stimulation to the heart to tease out where the abnormal heart circuit is.”

Dr. Carpen further explained that once the abnormal heart circuit is found then the radio frequency catheter can be used to burn the abnormality.
“The patient is conscious, alert; they can talk to you, they are looking at the screen you are looking at,” said Dr. Carpen as he detailed the procedure which can last from one to two hours.
Elated that Guyana is now able to benefit from the procedure, Dr. Carpen said that “this is one of the very few procedures in medicine that actually offers a cure rather than just control.”
As he spoke of the two patients recovering from the procedure, Dr. Carpen disclosed that they were likely to be discharged before the end of the day.
He said that patients not only have ready access to follow up care but they also have the numbers of experts who can attend to them if the need arises.
“If anything bothers them after the first 48 hours they can call but we will see them back after the first 48 hours to ensure that there is healing and that there is no bleeding. After that we will see them in another month and then later if the needs arises,” said Dr. Carpen
Heart rhythm disorder is not a condition that affects particular age groups or even specific races. The first two patients were a woman in her 50s and a man in his 30s.
Dr. Carpen who returned from overseas to Guyana about six years ago to offer his cardiac services to the Caribbean Heart Institute had promised that the procedure would eventually be introduced here.
When asked why the ground-breaking procedure was not done at CHI or the Georgetown Public Hospital where he also offers his service, Dr. Carpen quipped, “We are all a part of the same team to improve cardiac care and health care services to the country in general.”
He added too, “There are some things that are easier done as part of the private sector. Some things take a little while to be introduced in the public sector but rest assured that all of this, once it is successfully coordinated and it is demonstrated that it is feasible, it will be offered to anyone who requires this service.”
Another two patients were being prepared to undergo the procedure yesterday afternoon. Dr. Carpen said that plans are apace to attend to another two next month. He is optimistic that even more patients will be able to access the service in the near future.
“We are hoping that as the volume increases it will reduce cost so that more people can be able to afford these high-end type of procedures,” said Dr. Carpen who assured that when compared to other places in the Region, the cost is significantly less.
“This is an amazing development for Guyana because economies within Caricom and that of our neighbours, and even places with much more robust GDPs and a longer history of cardiac care are not able as yet to provide this level of service and care to their patients.
It is amazing that Guyana with all of its challenges can get a programme like this off the ground so that Guyanese patients can no longer say ‘I can only get this treatment outside of Guyana’ or ‘I need to travel, I don’t have visa’…
“These kinds of things hopefully will soon be things of the past,” said Dr. Carpen.
Although Dr. Carpen took the lead in conducting the procedure yesterday, he did have additional expert support handy.
“Today we were able to pull all of this off, not only through a local effort but an amazing coordination of resources from all over the world from as far away as India, Argentina, the United States, and in the Region we were lucky to have our friends from the Cayman Islands come down to help us get the programme off the ground,” said Dr. Carpen.
Commenting on the support from Cayman Islands, he added, “We needed that extra backup and comfort level of someone on our team that has been doing this for several years.”
After the completion of the first two procedures, Dr. Ravi Kishore of Health City, Cayman Islands told this publication that he literally did not have to lift a finger.
He said of his presence, “It was just friendly moral support. It was just being there as part of his [Dr. Carpen’s] history…two minds are better than one but he did all the work.”
Dr. Kishore who has over the years completed more than 5,000 case of cardiac electrophysiology revealed yesterday that cardiac heart rhythm is a rather prevalent condition. He anticipates that there are many Guyanese in need of the now available procedure.
“This is a very, very common condition. It disturbs the quality of life a lot. If they have frequent palpitation they will keep going to doctors and many doctors label it as anxiety neurosis because they are not aware of it,” related Dr. Kishore.
Having seen the capability of the local Dr. Carpen-led team, Dr. Kishore is convinced that Guyana is poised to have a sustained cardiac electrophysiology programme.

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