STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART - DR. TS KLER
As World Heart Day approaches, what tips would you like to give to the public about keeping fit?
This World Heart Day I would like to tell people to adopt a healthy lifestyle. And that means keeping your body-weight in check. The ideal weight is your height in centimetres minus 100. It is always good to be a kilo or two less than this figure. Abdominal girth should be less than 95 centimetres in men and 85 centimetres in women. Then, if you have diabetes, a good control over diabetes is defined as an HBA1C of between six and seven. If you have bloodpressure, try lifestyle modifications. Despite them if your BP is not under control, you should take medicines.
What are some good habits you see in heart-healthy people?
Regular exercise is important. By regular I mean 45-minutes to one hour of daily exercise, at a moderate level of exertion. Do this five to six days a week. Besides this, I cannot emphasise the need to de-stress enough. Modern life, due to a number of complexities, is becoming more and more stressful for people.
Is it true that men are more prone to heart disease than women? If so, why?
The answer is this is correct, as well as wrong. I say correct because men are more prone to coronary heart disease than women. Women are protected against this problem till menopause. But after that they can start catching-up with men very fast. Other kinds of heart disease are pretty common in women. Rheumatic heart disease and arrhythmia are seen in women too, sometimes more frequently than in men. Even high blood-pressure incidence is more in women after the age of 65 as compared to men. Overall, I would say it is a myth that women have less heart disease than men.
Who are some of your peers in cardiology you look up to and why?
Some personalities in cardiology that I look up to are people like Dr Devi Shetty, Dr Ashwin Mehta, Dr Samuel Mathews from Chennai. These people have demonstrated both capability as well as integrity in their profession. They have tried to advance the spectrum of cardiology in India. Dr Padmavati was another doctor who was right here in Delhi, Chairman of National Heart Institute. She recently passed away, but she was a very inspiring lady.
Can you tell us a little about new advancements in cardiology?
The advancements in cardiology today are such that if the patient and his relatives are wise, and have money, there is no reason why he or she can die of heart-disease. In India, we are performing the most sophisticated heart procedures comparable to those in the rest of the world. One new development is three-dimensional technology and other kinds of technology to treat arrhythmia. We can, through such procedures, penetrate the heart and identify the exact origin of the arrhythmia to treat the problem. Some other advances have happened for a condition called Refractory Heart Failure. It is a kind of terminal end-stage heart failure. In this case there are three options: either cardiac resynchronisation therapy, we also have cardiac transplant which is now very possible in India, and there is something called the artificial heart. All these three technologies are available in good hospitals in the metros now.
Why did you decide to become a cardiologist?
I became a cardiologist though I always had my sights set on engineering. In my tenth grade, a new Head-master had joined our school. A few days later he called me to his office and enquired after what I wanted to be in life. When I told him engineer, he said no. He had observed me and was impressed with my IQ, so he said that I should train to be a doctor instead. That was it, I changed tracks and decided to be a cardiologist.