‘The registry will help us form our own guidelines’: Dr G. Sengottuvelu

Interview/ Dr G. Sengottuvelu, clinical lead, structural heart interventions, Apollo hospitals

How are you planning to collate data for the registry?

We have to make the data entry as simple as possible. It is not just about getting the data, but getting accurate and honest data. We are going to use AI, and we are collaborating with students from IIT and a company. For the registry, we will just upload the reports, the discharge summary, the echo report, the CT report, and AI will automatically capture the data. Around 70 per cent of the data will be captured by AI; the remaining 30 per cent will be manually entered. Earlier, it used to be loads of manual entry, which made it difficult.

We are [trying to ensure that] hospitals and all the procedures get entered into this registry. The whole idea is to get complete data. If we miss out on some hospital’s data, then we will not have complete data. It will be a difficult and long process, but we slowly want to achieve it.

Once we have the data, we will have numerous benefits. In a country so vast, we will know the differences between types of centres, people, devices and how they are effective. It’s not just the procedure, but also the follow-up and how well patients are doing over time.

What exactly will the registry measure?

Everything. For example, from the start, the age group, where the patient comes from, for what the procedure was done, what was the indication of the procedure, what was their symptom and what type of device was used, every detail about the procedure, every detail about the anatomy, the echo and all the reports, and then the follow-up. We will know whether any complications happened, whether the quality of life improved, the valve longevity, etc.

How long will patients be followed for?

At the moment, we are planning to do so for five years.

Would the registry allow India to develop its own risk-prediction models and also evidence-based guidelines?

Those will be the long-term benefits of the registry. It will help in forming our own guidelines, risk scores and all that.

In India, affordability is a major concern. Can the registry help with this?

Yes, because we will know the benefits and risks of the India-made devices versus devices made abroad. We will also know how these devices specifically suit our population. And when we have this information, Indian companies can make devices that suit our patients, which will bring the cost down.