Angioplasties performed in India rise by 42 pc in 2015: NIC

The number of angioplasties performed in the country has gone up by 42 per cent in 2015 as compared to the previous year, as per the National Interventional Council (NIC) data announced here today.
The NIC - a forum for practitioners of Interventional Cardiology and the Interventional arm of Cardiology Society of India (CSI) - released its data at the ongoing NIC-2016, being held here.
As per the data, 10 per cent of the patients undergoing angioplasty are below 40 years of age and 15 per cent are above 70 years while 75 per cent are in the 40 to 70 years age group.

The preliminary information mined from the data indicates performing of angioplasties has gone up by 42 per cent during 2015 and is in proportion with the incidence of coronary artery diseases in the country, Dr Narendra Nath Khanna, Chairman, NIC 2016, told reporters here.
"During 2015, we performed 3.75 lakh angioplasties and used 4.75 lakh stents, 95 per cent of which were drug-eluting stents. Stent usage has been growing in the country and is up by at least one lakh over the previous year," he added.
Dr Shiv Kumar, Organising Secretary of NIC 2016, said, NIC Data on cardiac problems is collated from 630 centers in the country - almost 75 per cent of the treating centers, and is comparable with the what is available in a country like US.

"Heart attack in young patients is peculiar to India, (and) nowhere else in the world this phenomenon is seen," Khanna added.

According to him, the country is rapidly using newer technology as the number of operators is increasing. Complications and side-effects are declining, he said.
"The standard of care is getting better and comparable to international standards," he added.
Kumar further said the data can be used as a benchmark in our country and help to collaborate with other countries for solutions.
"23 per cent of angioplasties were done during 2015
under insurance scheme sponsored by various state governments which is up from 19 per cent in the previous year," the doctors said.

According to the duo, because of the active healthcare insurance provided by state governments, the poorest of the poor are getting good quality stents.
At least four out of nine Indian companies are manufacturing high standard stents and are exporting to 76 countries across Europe, South America, South East Asia, they earned India a revenue of USD 32 million, they added.
The stent pricing in the country will be standardised once its listed as an essential drug by the government and MRP is fixed, Dr S Guha, President, CSI said.
He said, "non-communicable diseases are looming large on our population and cardiac disease is number one amongst them."

Primary angioplasty is the preliminary care option for heart attack, which is not accessible to most of our patients , especially the rural populace. NIC is interacting with Central and state governments to reach cardiac care to such patients through an integrated programme.
Efforts are on for developing a registry to understand the disease profile in the country and tailor the treatment modality, the doctors said.