chandigarh for the first time the department of cardiology advanced cardiac centre pgi handled two cases of orbital atherectomy that allows for lesion preparation of severely calcified plaque prior to stent implantation recently cardiologists in pgi claimed that the two procedures were the first to be performed in the region and among the first in india prof yash paul sharma who heads the department and his team treated the two patients having heavily calcified coronary arteries one patient was an 84yearold man having angina at rest and severely calcified tortuous left anterior descending artery he was at high risk of coronary artery bypass surgery as the anatomy of his vessels was unsuitable for bypass graftinternational honour for pgi doctorpgi faculty brought laurels to the institute by bagging awards by the global association of physicians of indian origin gapio prof ajay duseja head of the hepatology department has been conferred with the gapio dr ia modi award in the distinguished category the awards were presented by union minister for health and family welfare chemicals and fertilisers dr mansukh mandaviya and gujarat chief minister bhupendrabhai patel during the annual conference of gapio at gandhinagar recently gapio is a nonprofit organisation which brings together 14 million physicians of indian origin on one platform it has presence in 54 countries