Health. Hearts, no longer safe from tuberculosis

The heart is considered to be an organ which the tuberculosis-causing bacteria cannot easily infect. But, doctors at CARE Hospitals have found otherwise. They have detected an increasing number of patients with TB in the heart, a development that could open another challenging chapter in combating one of the oldest ailments afflicting man.

The hospital has reported more than 13 cases of myocardial TB cases (TB infection of the heart muscle), which it claimed as the highest in a series reported from anywhere in the world so far. Their finding of myocardial TB was published in the Journal of American College of Cardiology last week. The patients reported irregular heart beats and were treated with cardiac-related therapies, in one case even a heart transplant was done.

Doctors did not suspect it to be TB as none of its symptoms, such as fever, persistent cough or weight loss, were visible. Later, the doctors traced the direct link between TB and the heart.

“This is a significant finding, as TB affecting the heart is new knowledge in the field of medicine. Although TB can affect any organ of the body, the heart muscle is usually considered safe. Medical textbooks report that TB of the heart is an extremely rare condition. . But we have seen it is not that rare any more,” said C Narasimhan, Chief of Electrophysiology Services at CARE Hospitals, who led the finding.

Consider the case of a teacher in Guntur, who suffered from irregular heart beats and related pain some five years ago. None of the cardio tests, including an angiogram, pointed to anything wrong with the heart, which had begun to enlarge. The patient subsequently underwent a heart transplant in another hospital, spending close to ₹10 lakh. “When we later analysed the patient’s old heart here, we saw that it was affected by TB. If this had been detected earlier, it could have been easily treated with anti-TB medication for a few thousands,” he said.

Similarly, was the case of a Hyderabad-based Income Tax inspector, Basalath Khan, 49. He too had vacillating heartbeat patterns and was treated with heart-related therapies. “Doctors soon realised that it was not a heart problem. Instead, I had TB in my heart, which was treated easily. Now I have completely recovered,” he told BusinessLine at the CARE Hospital.

What has been blocking their right treatment is that the TB present in their hearts can be easily missed as no signs of the disease are evident in other parts of the body. “How exactly the bacteria enters the heart is to be studied. We have tied up with Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad to undertake this study,” Narasimhan said.