Chandigarh, June 13
The PGI, Chandigarh, has successfully established alcohol septal ablation, a catheter-based intervention for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a heart disease that is inherited from parents. The PGI has already treated seven patients with satisfactory results during the past one year using this non-invasive technique, claimed Dr K. K. Talwar, director, PGI and Head of Department, Cardiology.

The children of an affected parent have 50 per cent of chances of inheriting this disease. The patients affected by the disease have an increase in thickness of the heart muscle, informed Dr Talwar.

Usually, the disease is not visible but in some cases the increase in muscle thickness results in obstruction to the flow of blood leading to breathlessness, giddiness, loss of consciousness and even sudden death, said Dr Talwar, adding that “the drug therapy is often only partially effective”.

Dr Talwar said traditionally open heart surgery was often the most effective treatment and involved resection of a part of the heart muscle responsible for the obstruction. But alcohol septal ablation is found safe and non-invasive, he informed.

The use of alcohol septal ablation was started in the world in 1995 and is being practised in many countries, said Dr Talwar.

Dr Talwar said the procedure is similar to coronary angioplasty. A very small quantity of absolute alcohol is injected through angioplasty balloon into a branch of the coronary artery supplying the muscle that is causing obstruction to the blood flow. This produces a small and localised area of myocardial necrosis and thins out the heart muscle, thus relieving the obstruction.

There is, however, a small incidence of heart block than can require pacemaker implantation, said Dr Talwar.

While the rate of success in these cases is reported to be more than 80 per cent in other parts of world, only one of the seven patients treated with the technique at the PGI needed the second application, added the director.

Recently, a workshop on alcohol septal ablation was held in the PGI to coincide with the visit of Dr Hubert Seggeswiss from Germany and Dr Angelos Rigopoulos from Greece. Dr Seggewiss has perfected a new technique and has the largest experience in this procedure in the world. During this workshop successful alcohol septal ablation was done. The technique was demonstrated to cardiologists from the region, said Dr Talwar.

Chandigarh, June 13
There is an acute shortage of blood in our country and a large number of people die for want of blood every year as our hospitals are equipped to meet only half of the requirement. These lives can be saved by commitment and hard work by voluntary blood donors along with educational and medical institutions by creating awareness regarding voluntary blood donation among the general public. This was stated by Dr R.R. Sharma, department of transfusion medicine, PGI, here, today.

Dr Sharma was talking to The Tribune on the eve of World Blood Donors Day. The department of transfusion medicine, PGI, will observe World Blood Donor Day tomorrow.

WHO has given slogans “Safe blood for safe motherhood” and “Universal access to safe blood to all by 2015”.

The blood donors contributed 4 million units of the blood every year while the country needed at least 8 million units of blood to fulfil the requirements in its hospitals, informed Dr Sharma. The situation was no better in other developing countries, stated Dr Sharma.

To provide access to safe blood and to save lives, there was a dire need to develop a mechanism which would help in providing blood to the needy in the rural areas. At least 50 per cent of the expecting mothers in the developing countries required blood at the time of delivery while half of them die of haemorrhagic complications, added Dr Sharma.

The PGI received around 35,000 units of blood every year and supplied more than 70,000 of blood components, including red cells, platelets, plasma, and cryoprecipitate, he said.

To celebrate the occasion with true spirit, people in City Beautiful, especially the youth above 18 years, can donate blood at Blood Donation Complex, PGI, between 9 am and 5 pm and join the mainstream of voluntary blood donors. A blood donation camp will also be held at Nicholas Piramal, Baddi, from 8.30 am to 1 pm.

Chandigarh, June 13
Chandigarh’s Jivtesh Kang will battle it out against sixth seed Raghav Singal in the under-16 semifinal of the AITA Talent Tennis Tournament being organised by the Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association at CLTA stadium, Sector 10.

Jivtesh silenced giant-killer Ranjeet Singh, a trainee of CLTA scheme for children of the Army officials, with a straight set 6-2, 6-2 triumph in the quarterfinal match today.

Yesterday, Ranjeet had caused a big upset, beating top seed Samar Adhikari of Maharashtra 6-3, 6-2.

Raghav Singal beat qualifier Nischal Rawal 6-2, 6-2.

From the lower half of the draw, second seed Sidhant Solanki of Delhi and fifth seed Suraj Beniwal also advanced into the semifinal.

Solanki ousted wild card entrant Bhavtaran Preet Singh of Chandigarh in straight sets 6-3, 6-1.

Semifinalists have also been spotted in the girls’ under-16 category. Top seed Jaspreet Kaur of Punjab beat Sandeep Kaur 6-1, 6-2 also of Punjab in the quarterfinal match. Fourth seed Ravnoor Kaur of Chandigarh ousted fifth seed Indu Punia of Haryana 6-2, 6-3 in the second quarterfinal encounter.

Seventh seed Rajvir Kaur of Chandigarh caused a mild upset by shocking third seed Kanishka of Delhi 6-2, 6-3.

Second seed Rimpledeep of Punjab had an easy quarterfinal round against local player Arshee Khosla 6-0, 6-3.

Top seed Nischal Rawal advanced into the boys’ under-12 singles semifinal defeating plucky Srijjan Uppal, also of Chandigarh, 6-0, 6-3.

Qualifier Amit Bzad (Punjab) moved into the semifinal at the expense of Vikas Beriwal (Haryana) 6-0, 6-1.

Results: Boys’ u-12 singles (quarterfinal): Nischay Rawal (Chd) b Srijjan Uppal (Chd) 6-0, 6-2; Jatinder Singh (Chd) b Pranav Suri (Chd) 6-0, 6-2; Ranjeet Singh (Chd) b Harmeet Singh (Chd) 6-3, 7-5; Amit Bzad (Har) b Vikas Beriwal (Har) 6-0, 6-1.

Girls’ u-16 singles (quarterfinal): Jaspreet Kaur (Pb) b Sandeep Kaur (Pb) 6-1, 6-2; Ravnoor Kaur (Chd) b Indu Punia (Har) 6-2, 6-3; Rajvir Kaur (Chd) b Kanishka (Dli) 6-2, 6-3; Rimpledeep Kaur (Pb) b Arshee Khosla (Chd) 6-0, 6-3.

Boys u-16 singles (quarterfinal): Raghav Singhal (Chd) b Nischay Rawal (Chd) 6-2, 6-2; Jivtesh Kang (Chd) b Ranjeet Singh (Chd) 6-2, 6-2; Sidhant Solanki (Dli) b Bhavtaran Preet Singh (Chd) 6-3, 6-1; Suraj Beniwal (Har) b 3-Rohit Choudhary (Dli) 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Boys u-16 doubles (quarterfinal): Manoj (Chd) and Suraj Beniwal (Har) b Karanvir Singh (Chd) and Harmeet Singh (Chd) 6-4, 6-1; Ranjeet Singh and Jatinder Singh (Chd) b Rohit Choudhary and Sidhant Solanki (Dli) 4-6, 6-1, 10-5; Raghav Singal and Nischay Rawal (Chd) b Gulshan Kumar (Pb) and Jaspinder Singh (Pb) 6-2, 6-2; Srijjan Uppal and Aviraj Kamboj (Chd) b Rishab Arora (Dli) and Samar Adhikari (Mah) 6-3, 6-3.

Chandigarh, June 13
A fine knock of 63 runs by Sunveer enabled Black Elephants (MES) beat DP Azad Academy by 46 runs in the first match of under-12 Edmund Rice Challenge Trophy Cricket tournament today.

The tournament is being played at St John’s Grounds, Sector 26.

Batting first, Black Elephants scored 131 runs for the loss of 2 wickets in the allotted 20 overs. Tanish contributed valuable 41 runs.

In reply, DP Azad were bowled out for 85 runs in 17 overs. Girik showed resilience with both bat and ball, scoring valiant 41 and claiming both the Black Elephants wickets.

In another match played at the same venue, Shivalik Public School defeated Apeejay School by 16 runs.

SPS set up a target of 91 runs in the stipulated 20 overs.

Shivam and Karan scored 27 and 23 n.o, respectively.

Apeejay School could manage to reach 75 for 6 in 20 overs. Shubham claimed 3 for 10.

Brief scores: Black Elephants: 131 for 2 in 20 overs (Sunveer 63, Tanish 41, Girik 2 of 13).

DP Azad: 85 all out in 17 overs (Girik 41; Amandeep 3 for 15)

Second match: SPS: 91 for 9 in 20 overs (Shivam 27, Karan 23 n.o; Mandeep 3 for 10, Amarinder 2 for 10).

Apeejay School: 75 for 6 in 20 overs (Dhruv 19, Mandeep 13 n.o, Shubham 3 for 10). — TNS

Chandigarh, June 13
Defending champion Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kasmir, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal moved into quarterfinals of the eighth Sub-Junior National Korfball Championship at Panjab University here today. The last quarterfinalist will be decided tomorrow from pool C.

The results: Morning session: Pool A: Haryana (Deepika 6, Arun 8, Anuj 7, Anuja 3, Anuj 1) b Maharashtra 25-0; Haryana (Anu 3, Jyoti 2, Arun 1, Himanshu 1, Vinay 2, Ronak 1) b Tamil Nadu 10-0.

Pool B: Himachal Pradesh (Sumit 2, Seema 8, Babita 5, Sushil 3, Sandeep 2, Kavita 2) b Dadar Nagar Haveli 24-0; Jammu and Kashmir (Vishal 5, Deepanti 5, Harminder 4, Arjun 2, Vawrun 2, Naarika 2) b Punjab (Mandeep 2, Sidakpreet 1, Himat 1) 21-14.

Pool C: West Bengal (Anita 5, Joya 2, Suman 1, Soya 1) b Jharkhand (Bhavesh 2) 9-2; MP (Kunal 6, Rohit 2, Pinki 2, Arvinder 1) b Jharkhand (Amit 1, Tara 1) 11-2; Chandigarh (Pooja 3, Dilbag 3, Mandeep 2, Ramandeep 2, Amit 1, Surnder 1) b Delhi 12-1.

Pool D: Manipur (N. Austin 2, Y. Jinita 3, K. Gitanjali 2, Lanskebi 1, H. Bullu 2, A. Naocha 3, N. Kahita 2, Doyeon 1) b Pondicherry (Arun 1, Salochni 1, Fugalia 1) 16-3; Uttranchal (Roma 2, Sarita 2, Surbhi 1, Manoj 1) b Uttar Pradesh (Ajit 2, Ranjit 1) 6-3.

Evening session: Pool C: Chandigarh (Dilbag 4, Akhilesh 2, Pooja 3, Mandeep 3, Anil 1, Surinder 1) b Madhya Pradesh (Kunal 2, Rohit 2, Pinki 1) 16-5.

Pool A: AP (Bhooma 4, Sofia 4, Supriya 3, Bhavya 4, Vishal 2) b Tamil Nadu (Anand 1, Joydhir 1) 17-2.

Pool D: Uttar Pradesh (Ravi 3, Ranjeet 3, Kamal 2, Akash 3) b Pondicherry (Ravjith 1, Arun 1) 11-2. — TNS