08/07/2025
Recently, I met a 70-year-old patient with severe chest pain. His angiogram showed a complex triple vessel disease, a situation where multiple arteries are blocked. Understandably, his family was anxious. “Is stenting enough? Should we consider bypass surgery? Is he too old for surgery?”
This is where we say medicine is not a solo act rather it’s a team sport.
At AIG Heart Team, every such complex case is discussed in detail with interventional cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, anesthesiologists, and critical care experts all at the same table. We weigh the risks, the patient’s age, other health conditions like diabetes or kidney function, and his personal wishes.
In this case, we realized that a carefully planned complex PCI (stenting) would be safer than open-heart surgery, given his age and other medical conditions. Our surgeons and anesthesiologists prepared a standby plan to handle any complication. The procedure went smoothly and the patient walked out of the hospital in three days, smiling.
This is the power of a Heart Team approach, not just a procedure, but a collaborative decision that puts the patient at the center.
