Healthy diet, exercise and good sleep to avoid vascular ailments, say doctors at webinar

A webinar on “Awareness about vascular ailments” was conducted as part of The Hindu Wellness Series on the eve of Vascular Surgery Day, observed annually on August 6.

A webinar on “Awareness about vascular ailments” was conducted as part of The Hindu Wellness Series on the eve of Vascular Surgery Day, observed annually on August 6.

At the webinar presented by Kauvery Hospital, one of the senior most vascular surgeons in the country, N. Sekar, working as the Chief Vascular and Endoscopic Surgeon in Chennai, spoke on vascular diseases and surgery, diabetes and prevention of amputation. He said 85% of all lower limb amputations in people with diabetes were preceded by foot ulcer, which if detected early, can save a leg.

While walking and age appropriate exercises are good for controlling diabetes and blood pressure, he said those with long-standing diabetes were prone to developing arterial blocks and should take care of their feet and avoid walking barefoot.

Speaking on varicose veins, stroke prevention for carotid diseases and arterio-venous access for chronic kidney disease, Arunagiri Viruthagiri, vascular surgeon from Tiruchi, said people in jobs that required long hours of standing such as police, chefs and surgeons have the tendency to develop varicose veins — a vascular disease characterised by swollen legs, heaviness in calf muscles, discolouration of ankles and itchy skin. “Though the problem is in veins, it manifests in the skin of lower limbs and needs medical attention before any injury or ulcer reaches the end stage,” he said.

S. Karthikeyan, consultant vascular and endovascular surgeon from Salem spoke on aneurysms, acute limb ischemia and vascular trauma. He said aneurysms can happen in any part of the body and often 80% of the people died due to ruptured aneurysms and of them, 50% cannot make it to the hospital.

He called for lifestyle changes such as healthy diet, 45 minutes of daily exercise, eight hours of good sleep, no to alcohol and tobacco consumption and controlled BP and diabetes to avoid blood vessel-triggered complications.

Noting that there are only 20 medical colleges in India with vascular surgery departments and of these, 10 are in Tamil Nadu, Dr. Sekar said general surgeons need to pick up vascular problems in a patient. He reiterated that every patient with diabetes should be first assessed for vascular management prior to any surgery.