By Noimot Olayiwola/Staff Reporter

More and more young people in Qatar are reportedly suffering from myocardial infarction (MI)  which occurs when blood flow is blocked long enough for causing damage to the heart muscle, Gulf Times has learnt.

“Nowadays, a good number of young patients are found to be suffering from MI and the causes for that are yet unknown,” Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Heart Hospital Cardiology chairman Dr Abdulrazaq Gehani has observed.

He was speaking at a session held to launch the nationwide  Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PPCI) Service for treating very serious heart attack patients without surgery.

According to him,  more research has to be conducted to find out the root causes of the attacks  among the younger population.

The official mentioned that last year,  diagnostic angiogram was carried out on 3,500 patients of which some 1,600 open artery surgeries were conducted.

Angiogram allows visualisation of narrowing or obstructions of the heart vessels and therapeutic measures can follow immediately.

“From October last year until now, we have received up to 240 patients suffering from acute full heart attacks and some 600 others suffering heart-related problems,” he mentioned.

Dr Gehani said that some risk factors such as diabetes, smoking, untreated high blood pressure  could lead to heart attack .

“Some studies in Europe found that one-third of those who suffer heart attacks don’t know they have high blood pressure (HBP), and that another one-third do not treat their HBP while a third treat their HBP but do not control it,” he noted while mentioning that there are no similar researches or studies in the Middle East.

“We need to conduct researches to establish whether people in this region are genetically more susceptible to have heart attacks,” he noted.

Qatar Cardiovascular Research Centre (QCRC) executive director Sir Magdi Yacoub called for an intensive research programme saying: “We need to conduct studies to really know what is affecting the population; to anticipate the problems and to find means of preventing them.

“These research studies will help us to find out the causes of heart attacks among young people in this region aside finding means to improve and invent new treatments.”

He mentioned that deaths due to MI have gone down  considerably due to PPCI but added that a third of patients tend to come back to the hospital with severe heart failure due to reasons like delay in seeking medical help after suffering a chest pain or heart attack or if the heart was not opened nicely and efficiently during treatment.

HMC to hold neurology symposium

The Neurology Department at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) will tomorrow host the Ninth Qatar Neurology Symposium aimed at promoting the exchange of diagnostic and therapeutic expertise in the field of neurology and neurosurgery.

The symposium to be held at the Hajar Auditorium in the HMC’s Medical Education Centre will enable eminent local and international speakers and neurology experts to share the latest developments and scientific advances.

The symposium’s organising committee is chaired by senior consultant neurologist Dr Boulenouar Mesraoua and its membership includes Neurology Department head Dr Dirk Deleu and senior consultant neurologist Dr Hassan al -Hail

“Epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and stroke will be the three main topics to cover at the two-day event,” Dr Hassan al-Hail said adding: “There are 6mn people diagnosed with epilepsy around the world. However, epilepsy can be treated with medication, surgical interventions and other medical methodologies.”