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'Heart Team' Concept - A reality or a 'Platonic Illusion'
1National Heart Institute, 49-50 Community Centre, East of Kailash, New Delhi, 110065, India.
Insights
The Heart Team concept, recommended in guidelines for complex procedures, faces challenges in practical application. Current implementation often falls short, making it a theoretical ideal rather than a functional reality.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Healthcare Management
Background:
- The Heart Team concept is a Class I recommendation in European and ACC/AHA guidelines.
- It is increasingly adopted for complex and multi-modality cardiovascular procedures.
Purpose of the Study:
- To critically evaluate the practical implementation and effectiveness of the Heart Team concept.
- To identify unaddressed issues hindering the Heart Team's pragmatic application, particularly in specific national contexts.
Main Methods:
- Qualitative analysis of guideline recommendations.
- Review of clinical practice challenges related to interdisciplinary cardiovascular care.
Main Results:
- Despite theoretical advantages like patient-centered care, significant practical challenges exist.
- The Heart Team concept often functions as a euphemism, lacking true operational integration.
Conclusions:
- The Heart Team concept, while well-intentioned, is frequently a 'Platonic Illusion' rather than a pragmatic reality.
- Addressing systemic issues is crucial for the Heart Team to achieve its intended benefits in cardiovascular care.
Abstract:
Post Syntax Trial, 'Heart Team' Concept has been ensconsed class I recommendation in both the European and ACC/AHA guidelines and has gained increasing traction in context of complex and multi modality procedures. Despite an arrray of advantages including the much touted - 'the patient is central', there are a plethora of un-addressed issues, some of which sentinel to our country, which threaten to make the 'Heart Team' concept a perfunctory exercise. As it stands today, 'Heart Team' is more of a fictional euphemism, a kind of 'Platonic Illusion' rather than a pragmatic reality.
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