Une mission particularly thrills the Pr Claire Mounier-Véhier, cardiologist and vascular doctor at Lille University Hospital: saving the lives of thousands of patients every year. This is why she created, with Thierry Drilhon (director and business leader), Agir pour le Cœur des femmes. Buses from the Heart will crisscross France from March 8 (Women’s Rights Day), just after the specialist’s intervention at the MedInTechs fair, an event whose Point is a partner. An opportunity to also deliver prevention messages to the entire population, to recall that 30% of victims of myocardial infarction under the age of 55 are women and to assess the importance of technological progress in cardiology . The best example being the Carmat heart.
“Cardiovascular diseases kill 200 women every day in France and 25,000 worldwide, with delays in treatment, mainly due to a lack of knowledge of this reality”, insists the cardiologist. “The good news is that in eight out of ten cases, we can prevent these deaths or delay them with a healthy lifestyle. Hence our desire to do everything for this, by carrying out concrete actions, from an endowment fund dedicated to the cardiovascular health of women”. It wishes to mobilize around three major axes: to alert, around this societal and medical emergency, to anticipate, through active and offensive prevention, and finally to act, through actions and health pathways involving all health professionals. and patients in an ecosystem of caring and vigilance.
Red flags
Overall, the prevention messages are the same for everyone. First, it is essential to train your heart muscle regularly, throughout life, and to have a healthy diet, which favors “good” fats and avoids gaining weight. Tobacco should obviously be banned. You must also listen to your body, have your blood pressure measured regularly and consult at the first warning signal.
Regarding this last point, women do not feel sufficiently concerned by cardiovascular diseases. Too often, they ignore and neglect the symptoms, which are frequently atypical. Consequence: delays in diagnosis and therefore in access to treatment. The Pr Mounier-Véhier regrets a late call from the Samu in the event of an acute accident (between 30 minutes and a few days after the onset of the troubles…) “Women will pay a high price for some, victims of unrecovered cardiac arrest or ‘a massive heart attack with irreversible heart failure…’ she explains.
Transplantation is the ultimate treatment for heart failure. It allows a return to normal life. Today, 30% of transplant recipients are women. Thanks to the implantation of cardiac assistance, patients can better wait for a transplant. The development of the Carmat artificial heart has shown how much technology can come to the aid of patients and even consider eventually doing without a graft. Its first implantation in a man took place in December 2013 in Paris, its first commercial implantation in July 2021, in Italy, and a first woman benefited from this technology in September 2021.
Come to MedInTechs
Claire Mounier-Véhier will speak at the MedInTechs show, during one of the six round tables including Point is a partner. This major meeting of innovation at the service of our health will be held on March 8 and 9 in the majestic setting of the Parc Floral de Vincennes (near Paris). It will bring together current or future health players, regardless of their areas of expertise, and the public. Its goal: to put the patient at the center of the decisions that concern him. At MedInTechs, all those concerned with health, professionally, family or individually, will be able to listen to high-level but clear conferences in an accessible language, discuss with each other, participate in workshops or even visit numerous stands offering the information they need. Only one address for registrations: http://medintechs.com
