Peshawar Hospital Gets Modern Technology For Coronary Angioplasty

In the public sector, Peshawar Institute of cardiology on Saturday become the country’s first hospital to carry out coronary angioplasty using the new technology RotaPro rotational atherectomy procedure, which saves time and delivers better results.

According to Dr. Abidullah, head of the cardiology department at the PIC, a team of cardiologists successfully operated on a 60-year-old patient using RotaPro. He said that more patients would undergo that procedure, which was meant to treat patients with hard and narrow heart vessels, which caused chest pain and heart attacks.

“This new technology has been used in Europe and developing countries for about a year. It has produced very encouraging results, which is why the PIC introduced it to improve patient care,” he said.

Dr. Abidullah said the institute has eight cardiologists, including four UK-trained, and has performed 14,000 angiographies and over 1,400 heart surgeries free of charge under the government’s Sehat Card Plus health insurance scheme.

He said RotaPro was introduced and patented by a US company Boston Scientific as the latest version of RotaPro technology to treat the “hard narrowing” of heart vessels. “Boston Scientific chose us [PIC] as the first center in Pakistan to implement its Rotapro system given our success stories, particularly the lowest mortality rate,” he said.

The department head said that modern medical technology can be used by a cardiologist single-handedly and in a short time without pain and difficulty for patients without anesthesia. He said RotaPro was successful in removing the calcium in the coronary arteries.

“This advanced procedure has a minimal complication rate but very positive results,” he said. Prof Abidullah said the novel technique would benefit patients needing calcified coronary lesions treatment. When contacted, the Medical Director of PIC, Prof. Shahkar Ahmad Shah, said that the institute has established operating procedures for angiography in complex cases, but that requires more staff and a lot of time.

He said the new RotaPro technology is far better than others. Prof Shah said the PIC had achieved many milestones since it began operations in December 2020. He said that early last year, the institute’s doctors performed the first-ever transcatheter aortic valve implantation in people who were unsuitable for open-heart surgery.

“Since then we have performed many procedures with results that meet international standards,” he said. The medical director said a single procedure cost Rs 3 million but the PIC performed it free of charge.

He said the 290-bed public sector facility has performed cardiac surgeries and examinations, including angioplasty and angiographic, 95 percent of which are covered by the government’s SCP program. “Last year the PIC was approved by independent auditors for certification by the Geneva-based International Standardization Organization. We hope to be accredited by the Joint Commission International this year,” he said.

Prof Shah said the institute strictly adhered to the rules of the khyber Pakhtunkhwa Regulatory Authority for Public Procurement to procure medicines, surgical disposables, and other items due to the sensitive nature of the procedures.

He said that patients received state-of-the-art services, for which the institute had highly qualified staff and modern equipment and machines. “Because of the increasing number of patients, we have (pic) Continue expanding services,” he said. 

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