With Kerala seeing an increase in the number of cathlab facilities and with more trained interventional cardiologists, immediate angioplasties are currently saving the lives of 5,000 heart attack victims per year in the state.
These statistics were presented at the annual conference of the Interve-ntional Cardiology Council of Kerala (ICCK) which began in Kochi on Saturday.
The annual cardiology interventional procedural data for Kerala in 2011 showed a 40 per cent increase in primary angioplasty compared to the previous year, said Dr. Manu R. Varma, Secretary of the ICCK.
Primary angioplasty — immediate opening of a blocked coronary artery in a patient with a heart attack — is currently the gold standard of treatment for heart attacks.