It's a Small World After All

Bringing global thinking to health care: Baylor College of Medicine forms apartnership with India

More and more, there's a need to think global with health care issues.
Dr. Navneet Kathuria is the chief performance improvement officer for BaylorCollege of Medicine’s Center for Globalization.
Baylor College of Medicine
When you're loved one is sick, you don't care where the research came from. Justthat it's good.

When Baylor College of Medicine’s Center for Globalization opened its doors in March, it was just making official what has been already been happening within the system for years. Inspired by the legacy established by Dr. Michael DeBakey and the ease of connecting to faraway places through evolving technology, BCM is poised to extend its reach to even the smallest corners of the world.

Dr. Navneet Kathuria, BCM's chief performance improvement officer, is at the helm of the center, which serves as an umbrella for BCM's existing international programs, as well as new global initiatives in education, research and patient care. With BCM trustee Wallace S. Wilson’s gift of $5 million, the center’s joined forces with Max India Group, the country's leading comprehensive provider of standardized, seamless and international class health care services.

Kathuria began exploring opportunities with Max in 2007 when he was on faculty at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine and he believes the partnership is mutually beneficial.

As technology brings countries closer together, it is easier for doctors to share insight and information through avenues such as Skype.

“Now that we have formed this agreement, it provides a framework for our research and for scientists to work and learn from each other,” Kathuria says.

While India is the first collaboration of the new center, BCM already had 314 different research projects underway that fit the mission of reaching beyond the immediate borders for education and research, including Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe, plus research projects in 33 countries. As technology brings countries closer together, it is easier for doctors to share insight and information through avenues such as Skype.

“In the past it would have taken years to travel continents to collaborate with other scientists,” Kathuria says. “Science knows no bounds and this moves science forward."

He points to the economic rise of India, China and Brazil as places the center can reach out to and exchange information. He also stresses that even when a disease seems to be contained to a distant part of the world, it still affects the global population. Everything from SARS to diabetes can be addressed through a comprehensive program developed by collaborative projects.

Although India is the first stop on the center’s map, Kathuria is quick to point out that it’s not just about India.

“Globalization has always been there. Dr. DeBakey was global health pioneer and any institution of higher learning and diversity is smart to partner not just locally, but around the world for their science,” Kathuria says. “It decreases the cost of globalized medicine and takes on a different texture.

"Health care is much more engaged."

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A crucial big 4-0

Your heart in pictures: Methodist images provide a stark reminder of how quicklyheart disease strikes

Doctors use an imager to see where blood flow is weak. This image of an abnormalheart shows weakness in blue or black.
This is what a normal, healthy heart looks like.
The heart is enlarged in this image, showing a bypass graft, indicated by thesquiggly line.
This is what a heart with normal blood flow looks like.
This aorta shows evidence of a an aneurysm, a widening of the blood vessel. Thewhite line points to the aneurysm.
These images compare a normal abdominal aorta to an abdominal aortic aneurysm.

It's easy to dismiss heart disease as a health problem only affecting older people, or those with a family history of the deadly disease. The reality is, coronary heart disease is the number one cause of death in America for men and women of any ethnic background.

As the average age of people diagnosed with heart disease creeps lower, lifestyle changes are crucial to hitting the big 4-0 without having a cardiologist’s number saved in your iPhone.

The Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center shared images with CultureMap, giving us an up close and personal look at how that cheeseburger, lack of sleep and stressed-to-the-max life can increase your risk of heart disease. The American Heart Association (AHA) encourages people to quit smoking, lose excess weight, eat a healthful diet, control blood pressure and keep cholesterol levels in check to maintain a healthy heart.

Pictures of an abnormal heart show blood flow is weak across certain areas of the heart (blue or black). Information about blood flow helps doctors diagnose what ails a heart, and also help them decide how to approach surgery.

Two in three men and one in every two women are at risk for cardiovascular heart disease at the age of 40. If it’s hard to imagine what that looks like, consider a series of images of the same heart, as the imager moves in three dimensions. Each pair of rows is a different dimension. Red shows where blood is flowing the most.

The aorta is the largest and most important artery in the body taking blood from the heart, extending down to the bottom of the abdomen. The appearance of an aneurysm, a widening of the blood vessel, is usually the result of a weakening in the blood vessel wall. If left untreated, aneurysms can rupture, leading to internal bleeding and possibly death.

Cardiologists treat coronary artery disease with a bypass graft. The grafted blood vessel is taken out of a patient's leg, then surgically attaching it to the heart and the aorta. A bypass gives blood a clearer path, allowing it to flow more easily from the heart.

Other courses of treatment include mechanical heart valves commonly used by surgeons at the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center. Surgeons insert a replacement heart valve by moving the device up the aorta, from the leg to the heart, avoiding open-heart surgery.

The same everyday choices that endanger the heart can also help it. The AHA suggests positive self-talk, deep breathing, counting to 10, smiling, doing things you enjoy and relaxation exercises as ways to tame the stress in life.

Even if you only smoke in social situations, cut it out. That is especially poignant for people between 25 and 44 — the age range with the highest percentage of people who smoke. Cigarette smokers generally have higher blood pressure which stretches arteries, causing scarring. Bad cholesterol, called LDL, often gets lodged in the scar tissue and combines with white blood cells to form clots. Good cholesterol, called HDL, helps keep the LDL from sticking and building up.

Consistent exercise is another heart-healthy choice and a mere 30 minutes a day can do wonders for the heart. Eating at least four and a half cups of fruits and vegetables plus a minimum of two three and a half ounce servings of oily fish, like salmon, tuna, mackerel, herring and trout, weekly are also encouraged by the AHA.

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