World Heart Day: Middle East countries urged to take urgent action as heart disease deaths surge
DUBAI: When Wali Khan, a Dubai-based investment banker, visited his doctor seeking stress-relieving medication to cope with a difficult period in his fast-paced life, little did he know he was a few beats away from a full-blown heart attack.
At 40, Khan was mindful of his family’s long history of heart disease and believed he lived a healthier lifestyle than his father, who had suffered his first heart attack at 47. After a routine visit to the hospital for sudden shortness of breath — assumed to be anxiety-related — he discovered he was otherwise asymptomatic.
“(Despite this) my doctor, aware of my family history, insisted on a coronary angiogram,” the Pakistani-Brit told Arab News. The test revealed two blockages that required immediate stenting — a procedure in which a small, expandable tube is inserted into narrowed coronary arteries to keep them open and restore blood flow, preventing a heart attack.
The diagnosis changed his life.
