A couple of years ago I went to India to have my left hip resurfaced. At that time during the pre-operation checks they discovered that I had atrial fibrillation of the heart.

The cardiologist spent several days before the operation making sure my heart was OK for the operation - it was.

Since then I have been taking an aspirin and a beta-blocker each day to control it.

I now have to go there again to have my right hip resurfaced and they just sent me an email saying they want me to get an ECG or EKG before I go and send it to their cardiologist.

Fair enough.

Could someone recommend somewhere in Pattaya that I could go and have this done without having to get too involved with a doctor or whatever, as I only need the ECG/EKG to send to the cardiologist in India.

In fact do clinics provide this service ???

I will obviously be going into Pattaya over the next couple of days to see what I can find, but any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks very much for your help

Best bet is the health check-up department of a hospital. Getting only EKG may be a problem, but you can get a low end check up package that includes it. Iif you are going to have surgery then I am sure you will need more than just an EKG; you will need at minimum a complete blood count (CBC), creatnine, AKLT/AST. These are standard before any surgery involving general anesthesia. Some doctors/hospitals also require a chest Xray especially when there is a history of heart or lung problems. A low end check-up package would probably cover all of these and save on costs in India.

To be accepted as pre-op labs would need to be done not too long before the surgery.

Both PIH and BPH can do this but it will likely be less expensive at Phyathai Sri Racha. Check up costs should be on the hospital web sites.

If for some reason you don't want to do the labs here and really only the EKG, try emailing Gavin (International Relations) at Phyathai SR and see what he can arrange, he is very helpful and the hospital (which is trying to attract more international clients) is in my experience very flexible. [email protected]

Well this has been an easier task than I imagined, as LifeCare labs provide these, so I will go there.

The details, in case anyone needs them, are Lifecare Labs Pattaya, 081 4817180, 038488048 They are in South Pattaya and I have used them for other tests, so I know they are OK. I just did not realize that they did ECG/EKG tests as well. Cost if you are interested according to their January price list is 350 baht.

Sorry Sheryl our messages crossed. Thanks very much for your reply.

I have been in touch with the cardiologist and the surgeon who will do the hip surgery already. I am going in several days before the operation to have further tests before the operation.

The cardiologist ran tests on me for several days the last time I was there and prepared me for the operation. So he knows my history.

Although I am 59 years old now, their tests last time showed I have a very strong heart, it just has odd electrical pulses!!!.

I do not drink nor smoke, I eat healthily, am not overweight and I do a lot of exercise, so despite my heart arrhythmia, the rest of me is still pretty intact and they feel I would be OK to have the operation - the cardiologist just requested to see a recent EKG.

Last time they pumped something into me over a 24 hour period through a drip to help with the heart condition - I expect they will do a similar thing this time if necessary???

Thanks again for your reply. I have read your advice on here many times and think your advice is excellent and very helpful to those of us struggling to understand what best to do to 'fix' our bodies

regards

David