When it comes to cardiovascular procedures, the U.S. sets the bar. That’s why China turned to the docs at Cardiovascular Institute of the South (CIS) to explain the latest techniques at the China Interventional Therapeutics (CIT) conference this spring in Beijing. Drs. Craig Walker and Raghotham Patlola chaired the New Cardiovascular Horizons (NCVH) conference at CIT and performed a live case before an audience of 7,000 physicians from all over the world. “We were invited because of our expertise in the field of peripheral arterial disease,” Patlola explained. “Very few people in China have that, and we are well-known leaders in the field of this disease.”

 

The two cardiologists performed an angioplasty and stenting of the left leg on a 55-year old female Chinese patient with high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol. She had been suffering from leg pain which was so severe that she had to get around on crutches. Testing showed a complete blockage to that leg. “We were invited to see if we could help her out, and we did,” Patlola said. “We got to the blockage, we unclogged it, and the balloon angioplasty and stenting were performed successfully.”

 

Two days later, the doctors saw her for follow-up. “She was walking around, extremely happy, with no pain,” Patlola reported. “She was extremely thankful for us, and most importantly, for the technology, which really helped her out.”

 

While China has some of this technology, it lacks the expertise and equipment to perform complicated cardiovascular procedures. The host hospital, FuWai Hospital in Beijing, took care of the consent forms and other paperwork. 

 

This is the first time that CIS attended NCVH, the fourth-largest cardiovascular conference in the world, and the largest in Asia. The invited faculty consisted of well-known physicians in the field of cardiovascular disease from Europe and the U.S. “It was an amazing experience, because most of these physicians had not seen these procedures being performed with such expertise,” Patlola said, “and they were, obviously, very thrilled.”

 

Following the successful presentation, CIS was invited to train physicians in China. Walker and Patlola hope to return when their schedules permit, possibly as early as this fall.

 

Patlola says that China is very receptive to newer techniques. “Things are changing now, and they would prefer less invasive procedures than the conventional bypass surgery,” he explained.