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Interview with
Prof. Bernhard Meier |
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Prof.
Bernhard Meier |
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"How successful are these
therapies ?" |
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The drugs reestablish blood
flow in a clogged coronary artery in about 80% within one hour. Coronary
angioplasty is effective in about 90% but it is not accessible everywhere
within reasonable time. |
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"How is it decided what
therapy is most appropriate for a patient ?" |
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Generally coronary angioplasty
should be selected for all patients if it is an option within one
hour after the first contact with a medical service. If not, medical
therapy called thrombolysis should be immediately applied. Patients
in whom for some reason thrombolysis cannot be performed, should be
sent immediately to a place where angioplasty can be performed. Patients
with a very small heart attack need neither of them but they should
be monitored in a coronary care unit because arrhythmia may threaten
their lives during the initial phase of the heart attack. |
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"What are some new therapies
for treating heart disease ?" |
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Coronary artery bypass surgery
and coronary angioplasty are the back-bone for treating coronary heart
disease. Alternative methods that drill little holes in the heart
muscle where the vessels cannot be repaired cannot be recommended.
Coronary artery bypass surgery is being performed more often without
the need for a heart-lung machine. It is now more common to use arteries
taken from other parts of the body to replace the clogged coronary
arteries rather than the veins taken from the legs as in the past.
The failing heart muscle can be replaced by heart transplantation
or supported for a limited period of time by artificial hearts. Dangerous
rhythm problems can be automatically detected and treated to a large
degree by pacemakers and automatic defibrillators implanted under
the skin. For all kinds of heart disease, excellent drugs exist to
slow down the disease process, halt it, or even reverse it in some
instances. More and more large heart operations can be replaced by
small ones or even by catheter interventions performed in the awake
patient through a needle stick in the groin under local anesthesia.
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