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Dr Karthik Viswanathan

Consultant Cardiologist And Electrophysiologist

MBBS, MRCP(UK), MD(Res), Certified Electrophysiology Specialist (CEPS -USA)

Practises at: The Huddersfield Hospital

Mr Karthik Viswanathan Cardiology

Personal profile

Dr Viswanathan has been a consultant cardiologist at Huddersfield Hospital since 2018, and has extensive experience in managing patients across the full spectrum of cardiac illnesses and in particular, specialises in Cardiac arrhythmia management and Heart failure management.

Training and Appointment

After completing his post-graduate training in general medicine, Dr Viswanathan gained extensive experience in Cardiology working across both district general and tertiary care hospitals in Yorkshire over nine years, completing his specialist cardiology training at the Yorkshire Heart Centre in Leeds in June 2013.

He then worked at the prestigious Toronto General Hospital, UHN, Toronto, Canada, for nearly 2 years completing a Fellowship in Cardiac Electrophysiology. He returned to the UK in March 2015 and worked as a Consultant Cardiologist in two large tertiary centre teaching hospitals - The Freeman Hospital in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and the Royal Brompton and Hareford Hospitals in London until 2017.

NHS Practice

Since July 2017, Dr Viswanathan has worked at Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust as a Consultant Cardiologist. Since 2020, he is also Clinical Lead for cardiology at the Trust. He runs two general cardiology outpatient NHS clinics every week. He has particular specialist expertise in managing all types of cardiac rhythm abnormalities or arrhythmias and in performing implantation of cardiac devices, ranging from loop recorders (including LINQ devices), pacemakers and defibrillators (including cardiac resynchronisation therapy devices). Dr Viswanathan established a multi-professional Arrhythmia clinic in 2017 - dedicated to providing holistic care via a one-stop clinic for patients diagnosed with supraventricular tachycardia, atrial flutter and atrial fibrillation. This award-winning service has been recognised nationally for its excellent patient outcomes. In 2019, He also established a monthly Inherited Cardiomyopathy clinic locally in conjunction with the Leeds ICC service.

Private Practice

Dr Viswanathan sees private self-funding patients, alongside those with private medical insurance. At Huddersfield Hospital, Dr Viswanathan fits ZIO single-use cardiac monitoring devices which can be worn for up to 14 days and can detect irregular heart rhythms quickly and accurately.

Patient Care

Dr Viswanathan is passionate about encouraging patient choice and participation in decision making and has been instrumental in setting up patient support groups for atrial fibrillation to promote empowerment and education. He is also very active in designing and delivering education and training for aspiring cardiologists, GPs and allied health professionals, both locally and regionally.

Personal Life

In his spare time, Dr Viswanathan enjoys playing badminton and running, and last but not least, making the most of the time with his family.

It is advisable to have a GP referral for the appointment, as well as any results or any prior cardiology history. An ECG will be done before the appointment at an extra cost of £160 if you have not had one done recently. If you have had one done, please bring the results of the test with you to the appointment.

Clinical interests

  • Cardiac chest pain
  • Angina
  • Blackouts (syncope)
  • Palpitations
  • Heart failure
  • Cardiomyopathy
  • Inherited heart disease
  • Arrhythmia's

He is also certified as an adult cardiac electrophysiologist, and is clinical lead for the Arrhythmia clinic at Calderdale and Huddersfield hospitals NHS trust. He is independently proficient in performing all pacemaker and defibrillator implants and catheter ablations for cardiac arrhythmia's, including supraventricular tachycardia and atrial fibrillation.

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