Dr. RR Baliga's 'Podkast for the Kurious Doc'

Dr. RR Baliga's 'Podkast for the Kurious Doc'

Master athletes challenge one of medicine’s most elegant assumptions: that fitness always protects.   In the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) consensus statement on athletes with abnormal cardiovascular findings, a paradox emerges—higher fitness, yet distinct patterns of risk: atrial fibrillation, coronary calcium, myocardial fibrosis.   The lesson is not to discourage exercise—but to refine our lens.   For the clinician: risk stratification must be individualized. For the athlete: performance and prudence must coexist.   🏃‍♂️ The heart...

Dr. RR Baliga's 'Podkast for the Kurious Doc'

A compelling study in : sustained moderate-to-vigorous physical activity across midlife is associated with a ~50% reduction in all-cause mortality in women (target trial emulation). Not intensity, not intermittence—consistency is the signal. For clinicians, the prescription is enduring: move often, move steadily, move for life. 🏃‍♀️💓   #PLOSMedicine #PreventiveCardiology #LifestyleMedicine #HealthyAging

Dr. RR Baliga's 'Podkast for the Kurious Doc'

The origins of medicine are not merely scientific—they are deeply philosophical. In our Great Doctors Series, we begin with Dhanvantari, the divine physician of Ayurveda, emerging from myth into method. From the Ocean of Milk to the clinics of today, this episode explores how healing began as a sacred science. For students and physicians alike, it is a reminder that medicine is not just practiced—it is inherited, refined, and reimagined across centuries. 🌿🩺✨   🎬 “Before medicine became a science, it was a gift—from the gods to humanity.”

Dr. RR Baliga's 'Podkast for the Kurious Doc'

A fascinating and somewhat unsettling observation from JACC: Asia: nearly 1 in 4 STEMI patients in New Delhi had no traditional risk factors—no hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, or smoking. Yet outcomes tell a different story. Despite fewer signs of heart failure at presentation, these patients had worse left ventricular dysfunction and identical in-hospital and 1-year mortality compared with those with standard risk factors. This “SMuRF-less paradox” challenges our conventional risk models. It reminds us that absence of risk factors is not absence of risk. We may need to think...

Dr. RR Baliga's 'Podkast for the Kurious Doc'

A thoughtful and important JACC State-of-the-Art Review reframes cardiogenic shock not as a single ICU event, but as a longitudinal survivorship journey. The article highlights recovery, remission, native heart survival, PICS, HF GDMT optimization, and the need for structured multidisciplinary postshock clinics focused on function, cognition, quality of life, and recurrent risk after discharge. A timely call to move from rescue alone to rescue plus recovery.

Dr. RR Baliga's 'Podkast for the Kurious Doc'

A landmark 10-year follow-up of the HOST-EXAM trial published in The Lancet challenges a century-old assumption: aspirin may no longer be the default for lifelong secondary prevention after PCI.   Clopidogrel demonstrated a sustained reduction in ischemic and bleeding events (HR 0.86, p=0.005), with benefits that accumulated over time—yet without a mortality difference.   The implication is subtle but profound: we may be witnessing the quiet reshaping of antiplatelet strategy.   In cardiology, tradition often lingers—but data, eventually, prevails.

Dr. RR Baliga's 'Podkast for the Kurious Doc'

🫀 In the New England Journal of Medicine, the SMART-DECISION trial asks a practical modern question: after myocardial infarction, should stable patients without heart failure or marked left ventricular systolic dysfunction remain on beta-blockers indefinitely? In this randomized noninferiority trial, stopping beta-blockers after at least 1 year was noninferior to continuing them for the composite of death, recurrent myocardial infarction, or hospitalization for heart failure. A provocative study that may help us prune old habits with newer evidence.

Dr. RR Baliga's 'Podkast for the Kurious Doc'

The New England Journal of Medicine has now given us randomized trial evidence for a question long guided more by extrapolation than by direct proof: in patients with established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, targeting LDL cholesterol to <55 mg/dL beat a target of <70 mg/dL over 3 years. In Ez-PAVE, the primary end point occurred in 6.6% vs 9.7%, with a hazard ratio of 0.67, supporting a more intensive LDL strategy for secondary prevention.   Elegant trial, practical message: when risk is high, lower may truly be better. 🫀📉🎯 Journal: New England Journal of...

Dr. RR Baliga's 'Podkast for the Kurious Doc'

New in Circulation: the 2026 AHA Dietary Guidance to Improve Cardiovascular Health distills prevention into 9 elegant features—maintain healthy weight, emphasize vegetables/fruits, choose whole grains, favor healthier proteins and unsaturated fats, minimize ultraprocessed foods, added sugars, and sodium, and avoid starting alcohol for health. Food, here, is not garnish; it is strategy. 🥗🌾🩺 #Cardiology #Preven

Dr. RR Baliga's 'Podkast for the Kurious Doc'

📚 From prisons to clinics to classrooms — what really shapes us?   I’ve been exploring the philosophical work of Michel Foucault, and one idea keeps echoing:   👉 Power isn’t just something imposed from above — it quietly operates through systems, language, and everyday norms.   From how we define “normal” to how institutions like schools, hospitals, and prisons function, Foucault challenges us to rethink what we take for granted.   🔍 His work invites us to ask:   Who defines truth? How do labels shape identity? When does care become control? ...