Filipino heart specialists shine in int’l congress

CEBU CITY — Filipino heart specialists took center stage in the Third Congress of the Asian Pacific Society of Atherosclerosis and Vascular Diseases (APSAVD) held here recently at the Waterfront Convention Center.

In this international congress, participated in by close to a thousand foreign and local delegates, Dr. Rody Sy, current president of the Philippine Lipid Society (PLS), was elected next president of the APSAVD.

The Society’s members include prominent authorities in the field of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular medicine in the Asia-Pacific region.

During the congress, Dr. Patricia Agunod-Cheng of the Philippine Heart Center (PHC) won the coveted "Young Investigator’s Award" for her research paper entitled "Raised Arm Maneuver: A Bedside Tool to Detect Endothelial Dysfunction."

Agunod-Cheng’s research paper is an innovative hypothesis originally conceived by her consultant co-authors, including Dr. Ramon Abarquez Jr., professor emeritus of the University of the Philippines-College of Medicine and a senior consultant at the PHC and the Corporate Health Services of San Miguel Corp.

Drs. Teresita Abola, chief of the PHC Peripheral Vascular Section, and Grace Topacio and Ester Estrellado of Medical Center Manila complete the winning research paper’s team of authors.

The raised-arm maneuver proposed by the authors is a practical way of detecting early endothelial dysfunction (ED), especially in hypertensives, diabetics, smokers and those with abnormal cholesterol levels.

ED, which is an abnormality of the inner lining of blood vessels (endothelium), has been shown to be the initial event which triggers the progressive narrowing of the blood vessels called atherosclerosis.

In the paper, Agunod-Cheng correlated the raised-arm maneuver blood pressure to blood-vessel wall changes determined only by sophisticated ultrasound methodology.

This novel work, which affords the ordinary physician a simple zero-expense technique to determine ED in his or her patients, has never been reported before anywhere in the world and may be considered a significant Filipino contribution to medical science.

During his term as the next president of the APSAVD, Sy, who was also the overall chairman of the congress’ organizing committee, pledged to make the Society even more dynamic and its activities more relevant in answering the various issues and concerns on atherosclerosis in the region.

He emphasized the Society’s commitment to a multisectoral alliance against atherosclerosis.

The four-day congress, one of the highlights of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Philippine Heart Association (PHA), was hosted by the Philippine Lipid Society and Philippine Society of Hypertension.

Local medical societies, including the Cebu Medical Society and the PHA Cebu chapter, helped organize what many foreign delegates said was one of the best international congresses they have attended.

They also hailed Cebu City as an excellent tourist attraction and an ideal venue for international meetings.