In a series of many activities to improve patient’s services, the Cardiac Department in King Abdulaziz Hospital - Al Ahsa in collaboration with Academic Affairs Department launch the Fourth Annual Heart Conference entitled “Heart Diseases Prevention”. According to Dr. Ahmad Al Arfaj, Regional Executive Director of National Guard Health Affairs - Eastern Region, this annual conference, attracts a lot of attention from the participants in order to get a lot of accurate medical information”.
Furthermore, the importance of this conference lies in community awareness in regards to preventing heart disease, as it is the foremost and main reason of death in the world and third after traffic accidents and aging in the Kingdom.
Dr. Hassan As Semairi, a Cardiology Consultant and the Conference President pointed out that 15 renowned speakers specialized in heart disease participated in the conference as well as presenting a number of scientific research papers that highlighted health problems that cause heart diseases, such as blood pressure, diabetes and obesity. One of the most important scientific papers was regarding the lack of physical activities amongst the community and its relation to causing several health problems, notably heart diseases, or disease that lead to major heart problems. Further research papers highlighted preventing heart attacks, atherosclerosis and medical interventions to treat patients with Coronary artery disease.
The conference also discussed the occurrence of sudden death, which Dr. Hassan stated that this is caused by heart disease that were not addressed, or were unable to detect, which can only be done through periodic tests and check-ups, especially that some of the important diseases like blood pressure and high cholesterol do not present clear and obvious symptoms, therefore, the heart problem cannot be detected.
Moreover, Dr. Ayman Farouq Suleiman, a Cardiology Specialist and the head of the organizing committee said: “Research papers have been the participants main interest, in which surgical interventions for patients with certain cardiac anomalies, artery disease and detecting cases as well as the potential risks of developing a heart disease for each patient were discussed”.
Finally, the conference was held on two consecutive days, the first day included a series of lectures, while the second day was devoted to intensive and specialized workshops for heart checkup routines, such as the ultrasound and the echocardiography.