Cuban experts develop studies on patients with heart conditions

HAVANA, Cuba, Apr 26 (ACN) In order to improve the quality of life of patients with heart diseases, theCuban Institute of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery is developing a research project for the application of biomarkers in the practice of rehabilitation exercises.

Eduardo Rivas Estany, head of the Prevention and Rehabilitation Department of the center located in Havana, explained exclusively to the Cuban News Agency that this laboratory technique to accurately diagnose heart failure is being used to assess people who, after a heart attack or ischemic heart disease, present heart failure.

He commented on the design of a rehabilitation plan with physical exercises and specified how these sensors are used to measure the effectiveness of the treatments and the absence of risk, with satisfactory results in a first stage of testing with several dozen convalescents.

Regarding the main achievements of this research, Rivas Estany highlighted the proof that people with severe heart function problems can follow supervised physical activity programs to increase their capacity for life, thus reducing mortality rates and improving their wellbeing, with the promotion of healthy eating habits.

Rivas Estany, who is also president of the Cuban Society of Cardiology expressed the desire to expand these studies to a larger number of the population, as the cardiac biomarkers are acquired and their use is generalized in the country through agreements with the firm Roche, producer of this technology.

He expressed the priority of reducing the high rates of heart disease in Cuba, the leading cause of death in the Caribbean nation, through the National Prevention Program to address the risk factors for its appearance and development, such as the lack of control of high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity, smoking and sedentary lifestyles.