Bangalore, 13 March 2022: In order to promote women equality and healthy living among women, Aster RV Hospital organised a walkathon in the city today. Dr. Malathi K Holla, Padmashree and Arjuna awardee and world-renowned international Para Athlete flagged off the event along with the participants and staff from Aster RV Hospital. The event saw participation from more than 250 people across the city from all walks of life.

Addressing the crowd at the flag off, Dr. Malathi K Holla, chief guest at the event, said, “The strength of a woman is infinite. When put under situations of extreme stress, just like a diamond, she begins to shine more. It brings me great joy to see the huge gathering here today to support the cause of women empowerment and healthy living among women. It is my wish that every woman is empowered to receive the right kind of education, access to quality healthcare and abundant support from family and society to help her achieve her dreams as woman is the route to a healthy, happy and strong future.”

Dr. Sunil Eshwar, Lead Obstetrics & Gynecology, Aster RV Hospital addressed the participants, “Women form the crux of our society. From growing, nourishing and raising life to multi-tasking ability and taking care of various functions of life, women have unparalleled strength and intelligence which truly shone during the Covid-19 pandemic as they took a lion’s share of responsibilities. We must encourage and appreciate women everywhere, do our best to provide them a healthy lifestyle and encourage healthy living among them as often in a bid to care for others they forget about themselves. On this day, we would like to extend our gratitude towards women everywhere for the irreplaceable role they play every day in our lives.”

The walkathon began at Aster RV Hospital, J.P Nagar with a Zumba session and ended outside with a cool down session by the physiotherapy team.

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Bengaluru 27 January 2021: Aster RV Hospital, a multi speciality quaternary care hospital in Bengaluru, has announced the launch of a comprehensive Pediatric Care Centre in order to provide specialized Pediatric services, including 24×7 paediatric emergency care and sub-speciality services under one roof. The centre will include an Advanced Pediatric ICU and support Pediatric – Pulmonology, Endocrinology, Neurology & Neurosurgery, Immunology, Oncology among other sub-specialties.

In addition to this, Aster Clinic has also collaborated with the Little Blue Jay’s Child Development Centre to introduce a customized special program to help children with mobility, strength, coordination, cognition, communication, social, emotional development, and sensory processing. This dedicated centre is located opposite Aster RV Hospital and will provide highly skilled therapists trained in Physiotherapy, Occupational therapy, Speech-Language pathology, Special Education & Child Psychology.

“Due their sensitive biology and as they are still in the developmental stage, young children require specialized care and attention. In India there is still a gap area when it comes to comprehensive pediatric care centers which cater to niche childhood health concerns, given the substantial burden of children suffering from various issues from simple common cold to complex liver transplant” said Dr. Chetan Ginigeri, Lead Consultant, Paediatrics and Paediatric Intensive Care, Aster Hospitals.   

According to reports, India also suffers from a growing incidence of children suffering from the pre-cursors of non-communicable or lifestyle diseases such as obesity, hypertension, etc which must be identified and treated early in order to produce a healthy and thriving generation of youth for the future. 

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Bengaluru, 12 January 2021: In order to raise awareness about organ donation and lung transplantation, Aster RV Hospital conducted an inter-hospital cricket tournament  at the Islamiah Institute of Technology on Monday. Healthcare professionals from across the city participated in the event to support the cause of organ donation.

It is estimated that a significant number of people with advanced lung diseases are in need of a lung transplant in India; however awareness levels on organ donation are still very low. Considering the size of the population and the number of people who are in need of organ transplants, India has one of the lowest organ donation rates in the world.

Dr. Pavan Yadav, senior consultant, interventional pulmonology and lung transplantation at Aster RV Hospital, who led the tournament said, “Many patients with advanced lung disease go on to become chronically oxygen dependent with limited mobility and poor quality of life. Lung transplantation is the only viable option in this group of patients however awareness regarding organ donation is quiet low in India. This gift of kindness can save the lives of many such patients with advanced lung disease.”

India is the COPD capital of the world with this condition being the second most common cause of death in the country after heart disease. In the recently published LASI study (Longitudinal Ageing Study in India), it was found that about 49% of the participants suffered from abnormal lung function. With non-communicable diseases on a rise, it is of utmost important that more people become aware the process of organ donation to cope with the rising burden of people in need of a lung transplant.

In order to register for organ donation, a person can fill out an online pledge form from the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) and be a part of this noble cause.

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Bangalore, 18 November 2020: On the occasion of National Epilepsy Day, Aster RV Hospital, a multi-specialty quaternary care hospital in Bengaluru, has launched a specialised Epilepsy Clinic in the city. The clinic will have certified epileptologists trained in adult and paediatric epilepsy, supported by a multi-disciplinary team to address the complex needs of both adults and children suffering from epilepsy. Patients can access specialized treatment for new onset seizure, complex epilepsy, epilepsy surgery, PNES treatment and ketogenic diet plan.

Epilepsy is the fourth most common neurological disease in India with an estimated incidence of about 12 million patients in India. This amounts to a whopping 1/5^th of the global burden. Social discrimination, stigma and lack of awareness about the treatment options available to cure or manage epilepsy patients remain some of the major issues in reducing the burden of epilepsy in India.

Dr. Keni Ravish Rajiv, Consultant – Neurologist and Epileptologist, Aster RV Hospital said, “With medical advancements, it is entirely possible to manage epilepsy and even completely cure it. However there are still some myths and superstitions around seizures or fits, with some people still believing that it is caused by a ghost possession or mental illness. With the launch of this clinic, we aim to create more awareness about epilepsy, acceptance and relief from this condition, and reduce some of the social discrimination faced by epileptic patients in schools, workplaces, marital life etc.”

Aster launches world class Epilepsy Clinic :

It is estimated that about 7-14 out of 1000 people in developing countries are suffering from active epilepsy at any given moment throughout the world. “Despite the high numbers, the number of people who are able to access proper treatment for epilepsy is less. In India, the treatment gap is estimated to range from 22% in urban areas to as high as 90% in rural areas. It is important that these people gain access to trained epileptologists backed by a multi-disciplinary team where mental health and the co-morbidities associated with epilepsy will be addressed as well,” said Dr. Sreekanta Swamy, Head of Neurology, Aster RV Hospital

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Bangalore, 05 November 2020: Aster RV Hospital, a multi-specialty quaternary care hospital in Bengaluru, launched the Aster RV Breast Clinic in the city ahead of National Cancer Awareness Day. A dedicated center for women, the exclusive Breast Clinic will be led by a team of specialized doctors with vast experience in breast disorders and breast cancer treatment.

Dr. Vijay Agarwal, Lead & Senior Consultant, Medical Oncology, Aster RV Hospital, said, “Breast cancer is the leading cancer that affects women in India with an increasing number of cases being reported each year. India has a high mortality rate for breast cancer patients and the primary reason for this is the late diagnosis of the condition although it is treatable when found in the early stages. With the launch of the Breast Clinic, we aim to raise awareness among women on identifying breast cancer symptoms early and also help them with screening tools which will aid in the early detection and treatment.”

According to reports, one out of every 22 women in urban India is likely to develop a breast cancer during their lifetime. The clinic will offer personalized care in a supportive and caring environment. Patients will be able to utilize advanced diagnostic tests in order to accurately diagnose and treat all breast-related issues with advanced X-ray, 2D combined with 3D mammograms, breast ultrasounds, biopsy and breast MRI. The clinic also has a Da Vinci Robotic surgical system for minimally invasive breast cancer surgeries and reconstructions.

Dr. Nawab Jan, Consultant – Breast Surgeon, Aster RV Hospital said “The clinic is designed to address any breast-related concerns such as breast pain, tenderness, any lumps or cysts, or infections in the breast area, in a safe and sensitive environment. Also, cosmetic procedures like breast implants/reduction, reconstruction will be offered here.  Patients will be counseled on the most effective diagnostics and treatment approach across a multi-disciplinary team.”

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In a first, doctors at Aster RV Hospital,Bangalore successfully operated on a 5 day old baby having a cervical myelomeningocele using neuromonitoring. As per medical literature, the youngest baby on whom neuromonitoring has been successfully performed is 15 days old, making this case a first of its kind.

What is Cervical Myelomeningocele?

Cervical Myelomeningocele is a very rare condition characterised by a swelling in the back of the neck since birth due to improper development of the nervous system. The swelling was initially found on the foetus during a routine ultrasound. The child’s mother, a 28 year old bank employee working in Karnataka was then referred to Aster RV Hospital, J.P. Nagar for further treatment.

An MRI on the child, Priti Das (name changed on request), revealed a 10×10 cm in size swelling on the baby’s neck, which was tense and looked like it was about to give way. The swelling was too large and would affect growth of the child. If it ruptured, it could lead to a brain infection which could be life-threatening.

In June 2020, the baby was delivered through Caesarean section and an emergency surgery was planned to excise the swelling. In order to increase the margin of safety and accurately remove the swelling, the doctors performed neuromonitoring. It was a critical surgery due to the small age of the child. If the spinal cord is injured during surgery then the child would have a lifelong neurologic deficit.

Neuromonitoring is a technique where the brain is stimulated with small amounts of current by stimulating electrodes placed in the scalp. This electric current passes through the spinal cord and reaches the limb muscles where it is recorded. This creates a feedback system which warns the surgeon of possible injury to vital neural structures, ensuring s/he alters or stops the surgery.

“Neural tube defects like meningomyelocoele are generally diagnosed before the 5^th month of pregnancy. This patient consulted us at the 7^th month of pregnancy with a scan report showing a swelling near the baby’s neck. In such cases, we have to make sure that the meningocoele does not rupture during the delivery as it is like a thin inflated balloon,” explained Dr. Sunil Eshwar, Lead Consultant, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at Aster RV Hospital.

“We could remove the swelling safely without causing any damage to the spinal cord. Neuromonitoring is a recent advance in neurosurgery and its application in infants & new-borns is being explored as their nervous system is still developing. Through this case, we would like to highlight that it is possible to yield successful results even in very young children,” said Dr. Dhananjaya I Bhat, Senior Consultant Neurosurgery, Aster RV Hospital.

Surgery was performed successfully and child was discharged after 3 days. The child is on regular follow-up and the wound has healed without any complications. At present the child is active, doing well and having normal development.

“I was overjoyed as this is my first pregnancy but worried when we learnt about the condition. Because of the pandemic we were even more stressed however the doctors at Aster RV were compassionate and explained how we could overcome the situation. All Covid-19 precautions were taken and the surgery went well. Priti is healthy and happy and I am happy to be with her,” said the mother of the infant.

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Bangalore, 25 August 2020: In collaboration with Ashok Leyland and Trinity Care Foundation, Aster Volunteers Ashok Leyland Mobile Medical Services was launched by Aster RV Hospital today. Under this initiative, two mobile medical clinics are being introduced that will aim to provide quality healthcare services to people in need and those living in remote areas of Karnataka where medical facilities are inadequate or inaccessible.  The initiative will also support the driver community who do not always have proper access to care, ASHA & health workers, Anganwadi teachers, and orphanages among others. The chief guest present at the event was the Honourable Medical Education Minister of Karnataka, Shri. K. Sudhakar along with Dr. Prashanth N, COO, Aster RV Hospital.

Under the Aster Volunteers Mobile Medical services, these are the 12^th and 13^th vehicles to be launched globally and the first in Karnataka. The vehicles will cover North and South of Karnataka, the North vehicle will also cater to the Kolhapur region of Maharashtra. By bringing free of cost primary screening services such as BMI, blood sugar testing, BP and general health check up to these communities, this program aims to check non-communicable diseases at an early stage and raise awareness on the importance of early detection and preventive screening. The Aster Volunteers Ashok Leyland Mobile Medical Service vehicles will be accompanied by experienced doctors, nurses and a driver who will conduct regular medical camps in their respective regions on an ongoing basis with the support of Trinity Care Foundation.

Commenting on the occasion Dr. Azad Moopen, Founder Chairman and Managing Director of Aster DM Healthcare said, “One of the missions of Aster Volunteers is to reach the doorsteps of people in need of medical services and who do not have access to it. The Aster Volunteers Mobile Medical Services shall try to bring accessibility to quality healthcare for the marginalised population based in remote locations and Karnataka is the fifth State in India that we have introduced this humanitarian service as part of our CSR initiatives in India. Aster Volunteers, with nearly 30,000 committed volunteers is operating in 8 countries and have touched the lives of nearly 2 million+ people so far. We are thankful to our strategic partners Ashok Leyland and Trinity Care Foundation for joining hands with us in this noble project. We also place on record appreciation for the support extended by the Honourable Medical Education Minister of Karnataka, Shri. K Sudhakar.”

N V Balachander, President – HR, Corporate Communications and CSR, Ashok Leyland Limited commenting on the occasion said, “At a time when the entire country and the world is going through a crisis, there can be no better time for Ashok Leyland to launch the Mobile Medical Unit partnering ASTER Group. At Ashok Leyland we believe that Education and Health play a vital role in development of community and therefore the initiative of Mobile Medical Unit is a step forward towards providing accessible and affordable health care to the under-resourced communities and we are pleased to be the partners in this initiative. Congratulations to the teams from ASTER and Ashok Leyland for making the collaboration possible and look forward to great success.”

Lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and hypertension are observed to be on a rise in rural communities and are contributing majorly to the mortality rate, which can be curtailed by creating awareness on the importance of health check-ups. As a part of the inaugural phase health camps will be conducted in Chikkaballapur where people can access this free medical service.  Every week two camps will be conducted in different parts of rural Karnataka. Strict measures such as the use of PPE kits by the staff and regular sanitisation of the mobile medical vehicle will be conducted to tackle the Covid-19 menace.

Aster Volunteers Mobile Medical Services was launched in 2012 as a part of the group’s commitment to give back to the community to provide quality healthcare services to people living in areas where medical facilities are inadequate or inaccessible. Currently, the 11 Aster Volunteers Mobile Medical Services have their footprints in the places like Delhi, Orissa, Jharkhand and Kerala in India, along with UAE, Oman and Ethiopia. So far, these services have benefitted more than 519,638 people globally.

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In a life-saving surgery, 6-year-old Sarvesh, a child from RR Nagar received a live liver transplant from his mother recently. He was suffering from a very rare kind of tumour called hepatoblastoma, which had grown to a large size and had almost occupied his liver. Hepatoblastoma are rare malignant tumours which mostly occur in children less than 5 years of age. The boy was only 5 years and 6 months old when the tumour was detected.

Sarvesh initially had symptoms of stomach pain in Dec 2019 and his mother noticed that he had developed a swollen abdomen. Investigations revealed a growth within the liver. This tumour is very sensitive to chemotherapy and the child had already undergone 6 cycles of chemotherapy at another specialist hospital. Following this they were referred to the Integrated Liver Care Group at Aster RV Hospital.

Sarvesh and his mother underwent a full and extensive transplant assessment. The whole operation for both the mother and child took 16 hours to complete, where a portion of the donor’s left side of liver was removed. Sarvesh’s liver which was replaced by a large tumour was removed completely and a portion of his mother’s liver was meticulously joined to the various blood vessels and a new bile duct.

All national protocols related to the prevention of spread of the COVID was followed during the conduct of this surgery. The operation was conducted without need for blood transfusion and the child was transferred to the Transplant ICU. He spent 14 days in hospital and was discharged. Both mother and child have recovered completely. The child is free of tumour. This successful transplant has led to a very high possibility of a complete cure from the cancer resulting in a new lease of life to the child.

Dr Chetan Ginigeri, Consultant, Pediatric Intensive Care, Aster RV Hospital explained the importance of post-operative care, “Taking care of children with Liver disease is a complex exercise. As the liver coordinates the entire energy supply, waste management of body cells and stops the bleeding from injury and enables healing; any disease-causing suboptimal function will have cascading effect on every aspect of child’s growth. Poor feeding, poor digestion, irritability, sleep disturbances and overall growth failure to name a few. Sarvesh responded well to his operation and needed artificial ventilation only for a day”.

Dr. Rajiv Lochan, Sr. Consultant – HPB and Liver Transplantation Surgery, Aster RV Hospital said, “Chemotherapy shrinks the tumour and, some children can undergo a liver operation to remove the tumour and leave enough liver behind to support the child.  However, in some patients the tumour is so large that a safe operation to remove a part of the tumour bearing liver is not possible, even after chemotherapy. This was the situation for Sarvesh.

In such cases, a paediatric liver transplant (operation to remove the whole liver and replace it with a part donated from another individual, usually a parent) is done.  This is a living donor hemi-liver transplant. Hepatoblastoma is a unique paediatric solid tumour which has an extremely favourable response to liver transplantation. Following successful treatment, these children can lead normal lives as the chance of recurrence of these tumours is extremely small.”

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A Father is a child’s true hero.This Father’s Day, here is an inspiring story of a father who has undertaken a critical journey of weight loss to save his son’s life. Manjunath, a boy of 10 years age was suffering from an inability to gain weight, low activity levels and easy fatigability from a very young age. In the middle of 2019, he developed progressive swelling of his tummy. The child was found to be suffering from Hepatopulmonary syndrome due to liver cirrhosis, the definitive cure for which is a liver transplant.

Manjunath’s father, 40-year-old Srinivas is a blood compatible match for his son and could be a potential donor to save his son’s life, however he faces a dire challenge. Srinivas is significantly overweight with a BMI of about 35, which puts him at a high possibility of having fatty liver disease. Organ transplantation between donor-recipients where the donor has a fatty liver puts both the individual’s lives at danger. There is nobody else who could be a blood group compatible donor for Manjunath.

“This is an unusual complication of cirrhosis of liver which causes blood to be partially diverted away from the oxygen exchange area of the lung. This results in a lower amount of life-giving oxygen being taken up in the lungs and delivered to various parts of the body. Manjunath’s oxygen levels are only 83-84% whilst other healthy children have this at 99-100%. He was put on home oxygen therapy to help with this low oxygen levels as a temporary solution,” said Dr. Rajiv Lochan, Sr. Consultant – HPB and Liver Transplantation Surgery, Aster RV Hospital.

Dr Apurva Pande, Consultant Hepatologist, Aster RV Hospital said “In order to donate a part of his liver, Srinivas has been on a strict diet and physical exercise regime for the last 3 months and has managed to lose about 25 kgs so far. With the positive response to his lifestyle changes he has also been commenced on some medications to help with the weight loss and reduce the fat in his liver.”

“I went on a very low-calorie diet of 1200 kcal/day. In addition to this, I started doing resistance exercises using weight cuffs, weights, therabands, aerobic exercises, cycling, jogging, cross training, swimming and skipping. The pandemic introduced new challenges and I had to change my exercise regime, but I am determined to become a healthy liver donor to save my child’s life,” said Srinivas. He adds, “I am also raising money for my child’s Transplant through crowdfunding. The doctors at Aster have subsided my child’s treatment through their affordable transplant initiative which has helped a lot.”

Dr Arvind K.S, Consultant, HPB and Liver Transplant surgeon, Aster RV Hospital said, “Fatty liver disease is on the rising trend in our country. It occurs in about 30% of the urban population. The reasons for it include alcohol consumption, diabetes, insulin resistance hypertension, dyslipidemia, hypothyroidism, obesity, certain drugs, genetic disorders and importantly lack of exercise combined with an imbalance in diet. Nature has been kind as only a small percentage of fatty livers progress to chronic liver disease/cirrhosis.”

Manjunath has been on the deceased donor state wait list for a liver graft from a brain-dead donor for the past 5 months but has not yet received a graft offer. This is due to the combination of the current COVID pandemic and the change in state organ allocation rules which came into effect from the end of Feb 2020. The ILC team hopes that they will be able to perform the living donor liver transplant from Father to son in 6-8 weeks’ time and return Manjunath along with Srinivas back to full health.

Dr Rajiv Lochan added, “Our aim is that every child who needs life-saving liver treatment is able to undergo it. They are our future and we need to provide every child an opportunity to get back to full health. The affordable Liver Transplant initiative is able to perform a liver transplant at a cost to family between 2.5 to 5 Lakhs, with the remainder coming from a combination of Corporate Social Responsibility support, donations from individuals, crowd funding and hospital subsidy. We have managed to raise close to 10 Cr and have performed 95 such transplants over the past 5 years.”

The Integrated Liver care team at Aster is a group of Liver enthusiasts who work in an innovative medico-surgical multi-disciplinary group. They comprise HPB & Liver Transplant Surgeons – Dr Rajiv Lochan, Dr Sonal Asthana, Dr Mathew Jacob, Dr Arvind K Seshadri, Dr Karthik Raichurkar, Dr Sudheer M, Dr Naphene; Hepatologists – Dr Charles Pancakal, Dr Mallikarjun Sakpal, Dr Apurva Pandey.

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Aster RV Hospital recently conducted an e-Basic Life Support skills program that is open for all. The pilot session was held with a city based running group – Running Roadies which had about 55 participants. ‘Basic Life Support’ is a skills training program that teaches the common man how to administer life-saving medical interventions such as Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) during emergency situations.

During the online session, participants were taught 5 simple steps like checking scene safety, how to assess the response of the patient, making arrangements for police or medical help and how to check for a pulse. The session included live demonstrations of the right way to perform CPR.

Dr. Mohammed Imran Soherwadi, Consultant, Emergency Medicine, Aster RV Hospital who led the session, explained, “Often during emergency situations, if someone suddenly collapses, people are unsure of what to do and they lose precious time waiting for medical help. The first few minutes after a person suffers a sudden cardiac arrest are crucial for his survival. When proper CPR is administered to a patient at the right time, his chances of survival increases by 60%. These skills are valuable during the pandemic and beyond.”

The doctor explained the different guidelines that are to be following during the pandemic, such as performing only chest compressions while ensuring mouths are covered. Post the pandemic, once the situation has normalized, people can adhere to the traditional way of performing CPR.

While answering questions from viewers, the doctor addressed misconceptions around performing CPR, stating, “Many individuals avoid administering CPR because they are afraid that they might damage the patient’s heart or rib cage, however this is not true. We urge people to equip themselves with Basic Life Support skills to understand the correct way to perform CPR and resuscitation so that they too can save people in need.”

Aster RV had launched the ‘Basic Life Support’ program – ‘You Don’t Need to be a Doctor to Save a Life’ at NMKRV College in March, which was attended by more than 200 students. The session was felicitated by ACP Ramesh, ACP of South Bangalore, Mr. Harshvardhan V, President of Leo, youth wing of Lions Club International and Mr. Sushil Bhasin, an ultra-runner who has completed a 500 miler in 11 days at the age of 70.

The hospital aims to impart Basic Life Support skills to 10,000 people this year, including 5000 students. To attend a session, please click on http://tiny.cc/AsterBLS or call 8884443204

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