Dr. Benny's Heartsmart

18/12/2025

Big thanks to

Zy R. Panakkal Surendran Kavelloor, Viswanath Pulparambil, Sohail Iqbal, Philomena Mendonca, Sultan Ali Somji, Sabera Sultan, Sreevidhya Parameswaran, Ranjan Babu

for all of your support! Congrats for being top fans on a streak 🔥!

10/12/2025

Hypertension causes annual deaths of 10.4 millions worldwide. It’s estimated that this year 1. 5 Billion people will be diagnosed to have high blood pressure. For every 5 mmHg rise in BP there’s 10 % increase in deaths. But still one third of people diagnosed to have high blood pressure goes without control of their condition. This needs to change.

Glimpses from the session of OMSB Accredited continuing medical education program on 8 th December 2025.

10/12/2025

24/11/2025

Celebrating my 12th year on Facebook. Thank you for your continuing support. I could never have made it without you. 🙏🤗🎉

20/11/2025

Stroke in a young person

A young lady in her 20’s presented with stroke. No predesposing conditions exist. The so called cryptogenic stroke.

This is the situation when one has to look for a condition, Patent Foramen Ovale( PFO).

Normally a communication between the two upper chambers of the heart ( Foramen Ovale) exists during fetal life and it should close after birth.

Unfortunately it may remain open in some individuals, that is PFO.

Such a communication between right atrium and left atrium can lead to passing of small blood clots from right to left side of the heart that may eventually landup in brain causing a stroke.

Our young stroke patient is found to have a PFO.

Her PFO is demonstrated by a saline bubble contrast Trans Esophageal Echocardiogram.

This involves passing an endoscope like echo transducer down her esophagus (food pipe) and peeks at her heart from very close ( ordinary echo looks from far and may not see this) while injecting agitated saline with micro bubbles to her vein , and look if the bubbles reach her left sided heart chamber thus demonstrating the presence of PFO.

Closing the PFO using a catheter based procedure will make sure no future strokes happen to her.

16/11/2025

Honoured and delighted to receive this citation from the Embassy of the Philippines

15/11/2025

Learning never ends for a doctor!

It’s always exciting to learn new skills and adopt them in your daily practice. I found a new friend and Mentor in Hong Kong.

Dr. William Hau from Chinese University of Hong Kong, an expert in Intra Vascular Ultrasound ( IVUS).

15/11/2025

Updates from Hong Kong❤️

Intracoronary imaging ( literally looking at the inside of the coronary arteries) is the new normal for putting a stent !

Or do we need stents any more?
Drug Coated Balloons will soon become the norm in treating coronary artery blocks without leaving a metal mesh unlike the stents! Met a daring lady from Malaysia who is doing wonders in this direction, Dr. Chen-Ting Tan

Contrast free Angioplasty guided by intracoronary ultrasound is another exciting option suitable for people with Kidney disease who can’t tolerate radiographic contrasts .

12/11/2025

Traveling to Hong Kong tomorrow. Happy to attend this course.

20/10/2025

It was an honour to welcome H. E. Raul Hernandez , Ambassador of the Republic of Philippines during his visit to Badr Al Samaa Royal Hospital.

09/10/2025

What’s the risk of engaging in very heavy exercise?