FV Hospital’s Cardiovascular Department recently gave emergency aid to 78-year-old Nguyen Thi Ky, who was experiencing chest pain and dyspnea. The team performed an electrocardiogram and echocardiogram, which showed that the patient was deficient in blood in the myocardium (muscular tissues of her heart) and her myocardium pulsated poorly.

Doctors suspected this was due to coronary artery stenosis, the narrowing of the blood vessels that provide blood for the myocardium. Immediately afterwards, the patient was screened for an emergency coronary artery.

The results showed that the patient’s coronary artery had narrowed by 80 per cent. Dr Do Thanh Long and Dr Huynh Ngoc Long quickly conducted a cardiac intravascular intervention by inserting a drug-coated stent into the narrowed coronary artery. Forty-five minutes later, the intervention was declared successful. The treatment progressed well; the patient recovered quickly and was discharged from the hospital within two days. Mrs Ky is currently undergoing regular checkups, has no chest pain and her blood pressure is stable.

Dr Do Thanh Long says that if physicians don’t intervene in time, a severe narrow position can become clogged, leading to myocardial infarction and death. Therefore, Dr Thanh Long advises those who are at high risk of cardiovascular diseases like hypertension, diabetes, and blood dysfunction – namely the elderly, people who smoke, are obese and/or have a family history of sudden death from heart or blood vessel disease (e.g. cerebrovascular accident) – to undergo regular cardiovascular screening.

If you experience symptoms such as pain in chest or difficulty breathing, you should immediately visit a medical facility to see a cardiologist immediately to be screened for coronary artery diseases and undergo timely treatment for complications.