Nawaz Sharif’s new medical report says some heart disease symptoms persist, need monitoring

LAHORE: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's latest medical report submitted to the Lahore High Court (LHC) Friday ahead of his anticipated return to the country, says the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo still has some heart disease symptoms and needs nonstop monitoring.

The PML-N leader went to the UK after LHC gave him the green signal to travel abroad for medical treatment in November 2019 as his diagnostic reports indicated that he required immediate attention.

Nawaz Sharif has been staying in London since then freely but is bound to submit regular medical reports to the court.

Last month, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif announced that his elder brother would return to Pakistan on October 21, putting an end to his four-year self-imposed exile.

According to the fresh medical report filed today by Nawaz’s legal team, Professor Carlo di Mario of London’s Royal Brompton Hospital has stated that he has been treating "this patient with previous CABG, multiple angioplasties and ablations, throughout his stay in London in the past years."

The cardiologist noted that they first tried medical treatment, strengthening his antianginal therapy.

Professor Carlo di Mario — who is a consultant in Interventional Cardiology — cited Nawaz Sharif’s persistent anginal symptoms and the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 epidemic behind the delay in his safe return to Pakistan.

“When his symptoms worsened and a large area of ischaemia was confirmed in a Rubidium PET myocardial perfusion scan, we decided to repeat an angioplasty. This treatment was performed on November 2022 and targeted an occluded left circumflex artery.”

It required rotational atherectomy, intravascular lithotripsy, multiple stents deployed and expanded under IVUS guidance,” the report stated.

It added that the elder Sharif still has some residual anginal symptoms and suggested continuous monitoring.

“…….due to diffuse distal coronary disease in a patient with diabetes and multiple other comorbidities that would require frequent follow-up investigations both in London and Pakistan.”