Every specialist in cardiology cannot do without one book. And that is Grossman and Baim’s Cardiac Catheterization, Angiography and Intervention’. This book is a bible for all cardiologists. Since the seventies, at least since last 47 years, this is one book which would have an edition in all important international languages from Chinese to Spanish, from English to French, Dutch and so on.
The topmost academicians, doctors turned professors from Harvard to Oxford vie to make their presence felt in the book. Writing for the book is a dream that most cardiologists in the world are not able to fulfill. No Indian citizen has ever achieved this feat but now, an Indian has achieved this feat. And this Indian is a Gujarati from Ahmedabad.
When a cardiologist was reading this book, he once dreamt that what if I could write a chapter in this renowned book? Some dreams are impossible but some dreams become possible.
For Padmashri Tejas Patel, a world-renowned Gujarati doctor known for his inventions in angioplasty and robotic surgeries that have had international doctors coming to him to learn the skill; this is one cherished dream that has come true.
A modest Dr. Patel told Vibes of India, “I am humbled to have written a chapter in this book”. Tejas Patel, inarguably one of the topmost cardiologists of India has a chapter written by him in the ninth edition of this universally acknowledged book. The 2021 edition of this Bible on Cardiology has a chapter written by Tejas. A Padmashri and a recipient of the highest award for medical accomplishments, the Dr B C Roy awardee, Dr Tejas obviously lists this as one of his most cherished achievements. Ït is indeed a dream come true for me because this is what I had dreamt of when I was a student. I thought it was daydreaming then but now I am the fortunate one to find my name in this book”
“This is the book I studied. This is the book my professors studied from. This is the book my son Aman, also a cardiologist has studied and now I am the lucky one to have a full-fledged chapter in the book. Dr Tejas’s chapter is called Radial Artery Approach in the 1216 page book. It is believed that no cardiologist can be “born” without reading this masterpiece of a book.
The present book is published by Wolters Kluwer but the original book was published in 1974. Unavailability of proper source material on catheterization led to the first edition of the book by Dr. William Grossman and Donald Baim which was published in 1974. Dr. Grossman has been quoted. “We had to give the young fellows mimeographed handouts”. If the students were absent then they would miss the procedure entirely. The book gave an insight and became the holy grail for the students almost instantly. Interestingly, even Dr Grossman’s three children used the same book for fulfilling their medical dreams.
After performing the first in-human telerobotic surgery in the world in 2018, Dr Patel co-authored a chapter on “Transradial Approach” with Professor Mauricio Cohen and Professor Sunil Rao for this book. Dr Sunil Rao is an Indian American and not an Indian citizen. This is a matter of immense academic and personal satisfaction for me,” says Dr Patel about his accomplishment.
This accomplishment however was not just destiny. It was in the waiting. Dr Patel who is the chairman of the Ahmedabad-based Apex Hospital where India’s rich and famous come for consultations has already authored 309 publications, including 3 textbooks, 148 original articles and 19 chapters in different textbooks.
Dr Patel received the prestigious Dr B.C. Roy Award in 2005 and Padma Shri in 2015 for his original contribution in the field of cardiology. His contribution to the medical field in India was rewarded by a Padmashri in 2015.
Dr Tejas Patel performed the world’s first in-human robotic heart surgery in 2018 which paved the way for life-saving telerobotic operations across the globe. Dr Patel once guided a robot from the institute to perform the surgery on a woman in Akshar Dham, Gandhinagar which was 32 km away.
Dr Patel was also the first person in Asia to use robotic technology in angioplasty. He has also personally designed dedicated catheter curves for use in the transradial technique which is now manufactured in the USA.
He completed his MBBS in 1986 and M.D. from B J Medical College, Gujarat University in 1989. Apart from being a practicing cardiologist for the last 31 years, he is also a Professor of Cardiology at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (SVPIMSR) and Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, Richmond, USA.
