Genesis Foundation takes the benefit of recent advances in Pediatric Cardiac Intervention to the masses

Pediatric cardiology patients have been not catered to for many decades. With the evolution of scientific advancement in pediatric cardiac care, patients are being diagnosed and treated with excellent long-term results and get amalgamated in the society as regular citizens of the planet. Organizations like Genesis Foundation have made it possible that these advances in scientific advancement reach the common man. This children’s healthcare foundation is one that I have a had a long-standing equation with, and earlier this year we conducted a medical camp to identify more children who could benefit from the foundation’s initiative, in Bathinda.

Echocardiography is a modality of choice for initial evaluation and as of today gives complete advanced diagnosis and hemodynamics of the disease. Camps conducted and supported by Genesis Foundation bring the evolution of advanced diagnosis to the needy by a trained pediatric cardiologist well versed with these advanced diagnostic modalities. Once diagnosed they may be further evaluated by diagnostic cardiac catherization, CT scan or MRI. All these modalities have made it possible to define the lesions precisely to aid their management. In the last decade the role of catheter interventions in the therapeutic management of congenital heart disease has been completely revolutionized.

The concept which started with the pioneer Sir William Rashkind in 1966 with the introduction of balloon atrial septostomy (BAS) for babies with dTGA expanded to a wide gamete of therapeutic options such as balloon dilatation of various narrowed heart valves and vessels such as aortic and pulmonary valves and narrowed vessels such as pulmonary arteries and aorta( coarctation).The evolution progressed to present day therapies of virtually replacing the aortic and pulmonary valve percutaneously. Many children have benefitted with the help of Genesis Foundation, with the closure of various holes in the heart such as PDA, ASD, VSD, AP window etc, which are being closed without surgery with devices wherein the child walks out after the procedures the very next day with virtually no need for an absence from school and no surgical scar. It is a quality assurance by organizations like Genesis Foundation which ensure that suitable centers which embrace these scientific advancements and deliver the state of the art services in pediatric cardiac care serve the real masses and needy kids within the society. A patient who gets treated, him/herselves serves as a role model, thus allaying various myths about congenital heart diseases. With the growing scientic advancement like fetal cardiology, fetal cardiac interventions, fetal cardiac surgery and gene therapy may soon be in the forefront in the coming decades.

I am happy that I get to contribute my time and energy to help patients that come in to our hospital via Genesis Foundation’s Save Little Hearts initiative, and proud that the hospital I work with has the resolved to help those in need via this children’s healthcare foundation.