Today's Edition
SAMI ABDEL RAOUF (DUBAI)
The Emirates Health Services (EHS) has announced that in 2023, its affiliated hospitals performed 3,245 cardiac surgeries.
The EHS told Aletihad that it has developed a strategy to develop health care services for patients, starting with preparing a comprehensive survey of patients to pre-emptively map risk factors to atherosclerosis and develop a preventative plan for reducing cardiovascular deaths.
EHS-affiliated hospitals provide technologically advanced diagnostic and treatment services for all forms of heart disease, including advanced techniques for cardiac catheterisation, in which clinical intravascular imaging methods are used to assess the level of injury to the micro-vessels which carry blood to the heart muscle.
The hospitals treat cardiac arrythmia and tachycardia with a high rate of recovery, strengthening their leading position in treating heart and arterial disease.
Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death around the world, and account for between 20 and 30% of deaths in the UAE. EHS detailed its most prominent results in cardiac care, which include replacing the aortic valve via a catheter, treating calcified arterial lesions using the advanced laser technology and intra-arterial atherectomy techniques, and treating chronic blockages of the coronary arteries with a high success rate.
Other accomplishments include diagnosing and treating congenital heart diseases in adults, and installing pacemakers without wires, a treatment for which the EHS-affiliated Heart Centre at Al Qassimi Hospital was accredited as a global training centre.
EHS-affiliated hospitals have a 100% efficiency rate for installing peacemaker batteries without wires, and a 100% success rate of the installation and implantation process.
The pacemakers have a period of use of up to 20 years, which reduces the need for interventional operations for many patients. The EHS reported that the UAE is the first country in the Middle East to contribute to surgical implantation of wireless pacemakers. The country's hospitals provides training to cardiologists in 12 European countries on the technology.
Other heart and arterial surgeries performed this year include aortic valve replacement, aortic valve dissection, surgeries to replace aortic and mitral valves, surgeries to replace the mitral valve or repair it with a small incision, in addition to surgeries to replace two valves with valve repair, exudate wire operations, and clinical bypass operations for mitral valve repair.
The EHS said that it has strengthened its ability to leave an influential mark in the healthcare sector, highlighting the service's technologically advanced medical procedures and training programmes for medical and nursing staff around the world.
EHS uses artificial intelligence (AI) in cardiac surgeries, which greatly enhances the accuracy and success of surgical intervention. Robotic technology has been adopted, especially the "Da Vinci" system, in interventional cardiac catheterisation services, which has helped in performing complex, minimally invasive surgeries, reducing surgical times and complications, and improving medical outcomes, EHS told Aletihad.
