Dr. Ashok Seth

Consultant cardiologist, treating heart disease without open surgery — chest pain and breathlessness, rhythm disorders, heart failure and blocked arteries. Care ranges from medication and monitoring to angioplasty, stenting and pacemaker implantation. The first appointment establishes what is causing the symptom before anything is planned, so bring any ECG, echo or angiogram you already have.

What a cardiologist treats

Chest pain, breathlessness, palpitations, blackouts, high blood pressure, heart failure and disorders of heart rhythm. Treatment ranges from medication and monitoring through to angioplasty and stenting, pacemaker and defibrillator implantation, and catheter ablation for rhythm problems — all done without opening the chest.

When you would be referred

Chest tightness on exertion, breathlessness that is new or getting worse, a racing or irregular heartbeat, or an abnormal ECG picked up elsewhere. Some symptoms are urgent rather than routine: chest pain at rest, chest pain with sweating or nausea, or fainting during exercise should be assessed the same day, not booked as a consultation.

At the first consultation

Cardiology is a diagnostic specialty first. The appointment is mostly history and examination, usually with an ECG, and often an echocardiogram or a stress test before anything is decided. The aim of the first visit is to establish what is causing the symptom — not to schedule a procedure.

What to bring, and what to ask

Any ECG, echocardiogram, stress test or angiogram you already have, ideally the images and not just the report, plus a current medication list. Worth asking: what the diagnosis actually is, whether the recommendation is medication or a procedure, what happens if you do nothing for now, and what would make the situation urgent.