Lucknow: The facility of excimer laser system to clear or modify complex blockages inside coronary arteries, including those which had been stented in the past and got blocked again, is now available at cardiology department King George’s Medical University.KGMU team led by by Prof Rishi Sethi and Prof Sharad Chandra recently performed excimer laser coronary angioplasty (ELCA) on a patient and the procedure was telecast live for cardiologists from India and abroad during the National Interventional Council Conference held recently at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical University.Experts said, ELCA uses laser energy to clear or modify blockages inside coronary arteries, helping restore blood flow in difficult cases.Prof Sethi said the technology is particularly useful in chronic total occlusion, where arteries remain completely blocked for long periods and in cases of gradual re-narrowing of stented coronary artery, typically caused by tissue overgrowth inside the stent, which restricts blood flow.Prof Sharad Chandra said the technology can also be used in lesions that cannot be opened with conventional balloon techniques and in arteries with heavy calcification, where deposits make the vessel rigid and resistant to standard procedures. It can help dissolve thrombus in some cases requiring extraction of old pacemaker leads.Doctors said 15-20 such complex cases come to the university in a month requiring this technology. These cases are difficult to handle with traditional technologies.KGMU cardiology department doctors have been trained specially to use the new technology, bringing huge relief to patients requiring treatment through the excimer laser system.Till now, such patients were normally referred to big hospitals in Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad where this technology is being used on a large scale.KGMU Vice Chancellor Prof Soniya Nityananda said, “The addition will expand treatment options for patients with complex coronary artery disease.”
