focusme
Maha doc study finds 95% with ear crease have heart disease
| In a country where heart diseases are the biggest killers claiming roughly 1.7 million lives annually, a rural doctor wants to revive the forgotten art of diagnosing cardiac problems by merely taking a closer look at the patient instead of subjecting him/her to a battery of diagnostic tests. |
| The diagonal earlobe crease (DELC) is one of the most visible telltales of a diseased heart, says Dr |
| Dr studied 888 patients who came with diseases common among Indians, such as diabetes and hypertension, and found that 95% of those who had an “ear crease” had ischemic heart disease (see box). “Of the 888 patients, 508 had an ear crease,” he said. |
| The doctor, whose work in snake and scorpion bites have earned international praise, believes the “ear crease” could serve as a surrogate marker for doctors in resource-crunch settings. “In India, the majority of chest pain victims first go to family physicians. At times, sudden death is the first and last manifestation of IHD,” Dr said. |