THURSDAY, 29 September of 2016
CARME ESCALES
Journalist
so precise, necessary and pursued throughout the world, love does not yet have an international day of tribute. but yes the heart. Today is World Heart Day, an appointed date to bring Xavier Ruyra here (Badalona, 1964). His hands repair that organ that, just to make us live, we have given you the power to love. Thanks to someone like Ruyra, planetary love and coronary surgery come together in a dream called CardioDreams. With the, Tsering Bhuti, a Tibetan mother of 38 years with severe rheumatic valve disease, could be operated on in Barcelona, last April.
-¿What was wrong with Tsering Bhuti?
Due to pharyngitis, an inflammation of the throat that in Europe does not cause the biggest problem when it comes to curing, in places like Tibet, where medical care and access to drugs is more difficult, can get very complicated, how it happened to her. The bug - the bacteria that causes inflammation, a microorganism called streptococcus, due to certain cross reactions, ends up affecting the heart valves.
-If you don't intervene, ¿can die for it?
Yeah, and in developing countries, It is a major health problem.. Some are produced 285.000 deaths per year.
-¿How they found the Tibetan patient?
Through www.migranodearena.org, the solidarity crowdfunding website in which she herself sought donations to pay for the operation. The foundation -CardioDreams Foundation (www.cardiodreamsfoundation.org)- decided to contact her and, with the support of the House of Tibet, She was transferred to Barcelona to undergo surgery. We changed two valves.
-While operating, ¿I was aware that that intervention was special?
As a surgeon it was another operation, technically conventional, but there was a huge emotional component in it. Thinking about places like Tibet, with such a shortage of doctors and material, you value the work of so many NGOs on the ground much more, in places like India, Pakistan, Tibet, North Africa, Latin America, that contrasts so much with what here. There it is very important to prevent.
-But here too, para evitar los 'sustos' of the heart. As director of the Cardiac Surgery Program at Teknon Medical Center and El Pilar Hospital-Centre Cardiovascular Sant Jordi, ¿what do you recommend?
Increase your intake of fiber and foods rich in Omega polyunsaturated fatty acids. 3 and Omega 6; usually eat fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes; prioritize extra virgin olive oil; reduce salt, red meat, sausages, whole milk and dairy products and high-fat sauces and pastries. It is also good to limit alcohol consumption to a glass of wine with meals., and better if it's red. Y, No smoking, practice physical exercise and reduce our daily stress, also.
-Barcelona is a reference in medicine and the city is a pole of attraction for this reason.. Between those patients and those who bring people like you, surgery is trained here… And more will. We must be prepared, because Barcelona and Spain are and will be reception centers for people who will arrive with their illnesses.
Yo, personally, I would like to see how exceptional it is today to intervene on patients without resources from countries with hardly any hospitals., was routine and many more people could be reached.
-Many doctors like you have their hearts beating hard with their daily work.. ¿Having studied and worked here stimulates? I was going to study in the gardens of the Hospital de Sant Pau to be close to that reference., They had performed the first transplant in Spain whose patient survived. Before working in other countries, I did my residency at Sant Pau. He lived in the hospital and was on duty at home., I was passionate.
