Dr Refai Showkathali

22+ Years Experience

MBBS, MRCP(UK), FRCP(Lon),CCT in Cardio(UK), FACC(USA), Fellowship in TAVI (Lon),FESC(Eur) | Cardiology

English | Hindi | Tamil | Malayalam

Overall Rating 4.39

Apollo Hospitals Greams Road Chennai

# Apollo Hospitals 21, Greams Lane, Off Greams Road Chennai 600 006 Ph:044-28290200/3333, , Chennai, ,

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Overview

Dr. Refai Showkathali is a distinguished Cardiologist with an impressive 24 years of experience in the field of cardiology. Currently practicing at Apollo Hospitals in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, Dr. Showkathali comes with a wealth of knowledge garnered through specialized training and fellowships from the United Kingdom. His expertise encompasses a broad range of advanced interventional procedures, including CHIP-PCI (for cardiogenic shock and mechanical circulatory support devices), left main PCI, and a variety of complex coronary and structural interventions. Dr. Showkathali employs cutting-edge techniques such as Zero (Ultra low) contrast PCI, Bifurcation PCI, Rotablation, and IVL therapy, skillfully performed via radial access for patient comfort and safety.

With profound specialization in coronary imaging and physiology, including OCT, IVUS, and FFR, he is well-equipped to manage intricate cardiac cases. His competencies extend to the implantation of devices like permanent pacemakers, AICDs, and conducting advanced procedures such as right and left heart catheterization, RV biopsy, and transoesophageal echocardiography (TEE). Additionally, he has expertise in atrial and ventricular septal device closure, PFO, and Left Atrial Appendage closure.

Dr. Showkathali is also a staple of academic advancement, holding a professorship at the Apollo Hospitals Educational and Research Foundation and contributing significantly as an examiner for the MRCP PACES exam conducted by the Royal College of Physicians in London. His impactful research dimmed alongside multiple fellowships and serving on the editorial boards of various international cardiology journals. Recognized for his contributions, he was awarded the Academic Research Poster Award in 2011. Fluent in several languages, including English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Urdu, Dr. Refai Showkathali stands out as a compassionate and skillful cardiologist dedicated to enhancing cardiac health and improving patient outcomes.

Experience

Currently Working as Senior Consultant Interventional Cardiology at Apollo Hospitals Greams road Chennai
SEPT 2013 - JUNE 2014: Interventional Cardiologist The Essex Cardiothoracic Centre, Essex, UK
OCT 2012 - SEPT 2013: Post CCT Senior TAVI/Structural Interventional FellowKing’s College Hospital, London.
AUG 2007 - OCT 2012: Specialist Training (ST) rotation – Cardiology (Intervention) East of England Deanery

Memberships

MEMBERSHIPS:

The Fellowship of The American College of Cardiology (FACC)
The Fellowship of The Royal College of Physicians (London)- FRCP
The Fellowship of European Society of Cardiology (FESC)
British Cardiovascular society (BCS)
British Cardiovascular Intervention Society (BCIS)
European Association of Percutaneous cardiovascular intervention (EAPCI)
American Heart Association (AHA)

Awards

One of the very few lady surgeons to perform Uro & Gynec Cancer surgeries and Robotic cancer surgeries. Have Performed Gujarat’s 1st Robotic Staging Surgery for Ovarian Cancer, Robotic Anterior Exenteration for Recurrent Cervix Cancer, Robotic Parametrectomy for Endometrial Cancer & Robotic Groin Dissection for Vulvar Cancer. Paper Presentations and Awards:- Best Oral paper, SELSICON 2011, Ahmedabad, Poster, ICC 2013, New Delhi; Oral paper & poster in IASG 2014, Ahmedabad; Oral Award paper in IASG 2015, Pune; Best Poster Award in IMSOS 2015, Mumbai, Maharashtra; Poster in RGCON 2015, New Delhi; Best poster award in RGCON 2016. Best Video Award; NATCON 2021. Best resident Award RGCIRC 2015, Best seminar presentation in Multi speciality meetings (tumour board) conducted at RGCIRC.

Research and Publication

RESEARCH:

Acute Haemodynamic changes after balloon aortic valvuloplasty (BAV) and transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). (King’s College Hospital, London
Observational study aimed to define the immediate haemodynamic changes after BAV and TAVI and to identify the mechanism of observed LV impairment
Co-investigator in the following TAVI related studies: (King’s College Hospital Sapien-3 (Edwards) Valve PORTICO valve JENNA valve
Risk scoring model for heart failure (Pilot study): (The Essex CTC)
Small pilot study of 150 patients to try and develop a model for risk scoring to predict mortality and re-admission within 30 days of index admission in patients with heart failure.

PUBLICATIONS :

The use of Embolic deflector device in TAVI. Refai Showkathali, R Dworakowski, J Byrne, P MacCarthy, London. IHJ Case reports 2016 Valve in Valve implanatation to prevent prosthetic valve migration in TAVI. R Showkathali, R Dworakowski, P MacCarthy, IHJ 2015
Incidental findings during TAVI work-up: More than just an inconvenience. - Original article Refai Showkathali, Arup Sen, Rafal Dwarakowski, Beth Brickham, Olaf Wendler, Philip MacCarthy. King’s College Hospital, London.Eurointervention 2014 Jun 28. pii: 20130626-03. doi: 10.4244/EIJY14M06
Should primary percutaneous coronary intervention be the routine reperfusion strategy in octogenarians presenting with ST elevation myocardial infarction? Refai Showkathali, Edney Boston-Griffiths, Michael Parker, John R Davies, Gerald J Clesham, Jeremy W Sayer, Paul A Kelly, Rajesh K Aggarwal. The Essex CTC, UK J Cardiovasc Med. 2014; 15(1):53-9
Comparison of Bivalirudin with Heparin versus Abciximab with Heparin for primary percutaneous coronary intervention in "real-world" practice. Refai Showkathali, John R Davies, Michael Parker, Wasing Taggu, Kare H Tang, Gerald J Clesham, Reto A Gamma, Jeremy W Sayer, Rajesh K Aggarwal, Paul A Kelly. Cardiovasc Revasc Med. 2013 14(5):289-93
The advantages of a consultant led primary percutaneous coronary intervention service on patient outcome.Refai Showkathali, John R Davies, Jeremy W Sayer, Paul A Kelly, Rajesh K Aggarwal, Gerald J Clesham. The Essex Cardiothoracic centre, UK QJM. 2013 Jun 29.
Radio frequency ablation of arrhythmias guided by non-fluoroscopic catheter location: A prospective randomized trial. Mark J Earley, Refai Showkathali, Maysaa Alzetani, Peter M Kistler, Dhiraj Gupta, Dominic J Abram, Julie A Horrocks, Stuart Harris, Simon C Sporton, Richard J Schilling. Eur. Heart J. 2006 May; 27:1223 – 1229
Right atrial flutter isthmus ablation is feasible and results in acute clinical improvement in patients with persistent atrial flutter and severe pulmonary arterial hypertension Refai Showkathali, Muzahir H. Tayebjee, Julia Grapsa, Maysaa Alzetani, Petros Nihoyannopoulos, Luke S Howard, David C Lefroy, J Simon R Gibbs. Hammersmith Hospital Int J Cardiol. 2011; 149(2):279-80
Multi-disciplinary clinic: Next step in “Heart team” approach for TAVI.
Refai Showkathali, Raj Chelliah, Beth Brickham, Rafal Dworakowski, Emma Alcock, Ranjit Deshpande, Olaf Wendler, Philip MacCarthy, Jonathan Byrne.
Should primary percutaneous coronary intervention be the routine reperfusion strategy in octogenarians presenting with ST elevation myocardial infarction?
Refai Showkathali, Edney Boston-Griffiths, Michael Parker, John R Davies, Gerald J Clesham, Jeremy W Sayer, Paul A Kelly, Rajesh K Aggarwal. The Essex CTC, UK
J Cardiovasc Med. 2014; 15(1):53-9
Typical Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy in ST elevation myocardial infarction patients admitted for primary percutaneous coronary intervention.- Original article
Refai Showkathali, Hetalkumar Patel, Anil Ramoutar, Alamgir M Kabir, Jeremy W Sayer, Gerald J Clesham, Rajesh K Aggarwal, Paul A Kelly.
Eur J Intern Med. 2013 Oct 3. doi:pii: S0953-6205(13)00942-4. 10.1016/j.ejim.2013.09.004
Comparison of Bivalirudin with Heparin versus Abciximab with Heparin for primary percutaneous coronary intervention in "real-world" practice.
Refai Showkathali, John R Davies, Michael Parker, Wasing Taggu, Kare H Tang, Gerald J Clesham, Reto A Gamma, Jeremy W Sayer, Rajesh K Aggarwal, Paul A Kelly.
Cardiovasc Revasc Med. 2013 14(5):289-93
Current case mix and results of catheter ablation of regular supraventricular tachycardia: are we giving unrealistic expectation to patients?
Refai Showkathali, Mark J Earley, Maysaa Alzetani, Stuart Harris, Dhiraj Gupta, Peter Kistler, Simon Sporton, Anthony W Nathan, Richard J Schilling.
Europace. November 2007; 9(11): 1064 – 1068
Radio frequency ablation of arrhythmias guided by non-fluoroscopic catheter location: A prospective randomized trial.
Mark J Earley, Refai Showkathali, Maysaa Alzetani, Peter M Kistler, Dhiraj Gupta, Dominic J Abram, Julie A Horrocks, Stuart Harris, Simon C Sporton, Richard J Schilling.Eur. Heart J. 2006 May; 27:1223 – 1229
Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy: a short review.Shahbaz Roshanzamir, Refai Showkathali.Curr Cardiol Rev. 2013;9 (3): 191-6
Rosuvastatin calcium in acute coronary syndromes.Rajesh Aggarwal, Refai Showkathali.Expert Opin Pharmacother. 2013 Jun;14(9):1215-27
Antiplatelet and Antithrombin Strategies in Acute Coronary Syndrome: State-Of-The-Art Review.Refai Showkathali, Arun Natarajan.Curr Cardiol Rev. 2012;8: 239-49
Echocardiography and the critically ill patient.Refai Showkathali, Derek Hausenloy. Hammersmith Hospital, London Current Anaes and Critical Care 2006- Volume 17, Issues 3-4: 237-244
He regularly presents research papers in International Cardiology conferences in UK, Europe and USA. He has published extensively in the field of cardiology with more than 50 peer reviewed publications in renowned International Journals, most of which are first or lead author. He also regularly review manuscripts for various cardiology and general medical journals from UK, Europe and USA (Heart, Open Heart, Eurointervention, Indian Heart journal, “Current cardiology review” etc within the last one year)

Special Interests

ADVANCED INTERVENTIONAL CARDIOLOGY
TAVI
COMPLEX CORONARY ANGIOPLASTY
PACEMAKER
ASD
ICD
Specialises in Advanced Interventional Cardiology (advanced coronaryand advanced structural) and has immense experience in managing all forms of heart disorders (coronary artery disease including heart attack, valvular heart disease, heart failure including cardiomyopathies and rhythm disorder). He performs all forms of Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI)- coronary angioplasty with stents– including primary PCI for ST elevation MI (acute heart attack- unblocking the closed artery), chronic total occlusion (CTO) angioplasty with latest techniques such as crossboss and stingray balloons, rotablation (drilling technique) , bifurcation stenting, Left main stem (LMS) stenting (main branch), Bio-absorbable scaffold (BVS) deployment, dedicated bifurcation stenting (Tryton), Drug eluting balloon (DEB), Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), Optical coherence tomography (OCT), pressure wire studies (FFR- fractional flow reserve), mechanical thrombectomy, proximal and distal protection devices, vein graft stenting both via radial and femoral approach. Presently the default strategy is radial access including complex interventions.

List of Treatments

Rheumatic Heart Disease Treatment
Preoperative Treatment

List of Conditions Treated

Barth Syndrome
Preventive Care Of Heart Lung Diseases
Andersen Tawil Syndrome
Screening For Coronary Artery Disease
Screening For Valvulae Heart Disease
Cardiovascular Disease Prevention
Dilated cardiomyopathy
Irregular Heartbeat
Orthostatic Hypotension
Patent foramen ovale
Acute Aortic Dissection
Acute Pericarditis
Plication Of The Inferior Vena Cava
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Palpitations
Heart Transplantation
Restrictive Cardiomyopathy
Primary Angiitis
Primary Pulmonary Hypertension
Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring
Pain In Left Part Of Chest
Blocked Blood Vessels
Blood Pressure Changes
Double Outlet Right Ventricle
Double Inlet Left Ventricle
Congenital Birth Defects In The Heart Correct
Chest Pain During Exercise
Cardiac Rehabilitation
Cardiovascular Emergencies
Cardiac Tamponade
Cardiac Arrhythmias

Client Reviews

Karthikeyan Parthasarathy

One of the best cardiologist I have ever met, experienced to the core, diagnosis is perfect, clearly explains the issue, never prescribes anything extra, every visit either reduces dosage or stops medicine if there is a cure,
Sasikala Ravichandran

Dr Refai is a very calm and down to earth person. He has vast knowledge is his area of expertise about latest methods and procedures has eye to detail and very professional approach. He is very attentive and explains very well.
Raveendran G

Very cordial and taking care of patients
Kannan S S

Very sincere and courteous..Explains everything to patients very clearly. Very experienced doctor .
Asrar Ahmed

Satisfactory
Muthu Munas

Excellent Doctor. He is very soft person and he nicely explain the issues related with health problem to the patients. He did several angioplasty to many patients. He did me too. I am perfectly alright now.
Kamala V

Very efficient, kind to approach, clear doubts
Abu Huraira

Proper Diagnosis, Satisfied treatment and Good results ! ... A year ago , My mother experienced a heart attack and subsequently developed heart failure and pulmonary edema . We approached many doctors, none of them gave positive consolidation and insisted Bypass surgery . And then we came to know about Dr.Refai Showkath Ali and approached him for treatment. The diagnosis , approach , treatment were all good and he gave hope and immense support by regular follow up through mail and doubt clarifications and recommended angioplasty with stent placement instead of bypass . We opted the same and the procedure was finished within a day followed by observation for one day and then she got discharged. Now she's doing well Alhamdulillah! Hence I recommend him a lot through my fortunate experience.
Gdm Yasir Firdousi

மருத்துவர் ரிஃபாய் ஷவ்கத் அவர்கள் இதய நோயாளிகளுக்கு அரிதினும் அரிதாக கிடைத்த மாபெரும் பொக்கிஷம் ஆவார்கள். எங்கள் தாயாருக்கு மாரடைப்பு ஏற்பட்டு பாண்டிச்சேரி அருகிலுள்ள மருத்துவகல்லூரியுடன் இணைந்த பிரபல மருத்துவமனையில் சேர்த்தோம். இதய பரிசோதனை செய்து பார்த்தபோது மூன்று இடங்களில் அடைப்பு இருப்பதாகவும் பைபாஸ் அறுவை சிகிச்சை மட்டுமே இதற்கு தீர்வு என்று உறுதியாக தெரிவித்தனர்.இந்நிலையில் மருத்துவர் ரிஃபாய் ஷவ்கத் அவர்களுடைய அறிமுகம் கிடைத்தது. மருத்துவர் ரிஃபாய் ஷவ்கத் அவர்கள் இதற்கு பைபாஸ் தேவையில்லை ஸ்டாண்டு சிகிட்சையே போதுமானது என்று ஸ்டண்ட் சிகிச்சை அளித்தார்கள் .இப்போது எங்கள் தாயார் நலமாக இருக்கிறார்கள். நாங்கள் அடைந்துள்ள மகிழ்ச்சிக்கு அளவேயில்லை. ஏக இறைவன் மருத்துவர் அவர்களை எல்லா நலமும்.வளமுடன் நீடூழி வாழவைத்து இதயநோயாளிகளின் வாழ்விற்கு இறைவன் அருளால் ஒளிவீசி வழிகாட்டும் கலங்கரை விளக்காக நீடூழி திகழட்டும். மவ்லவி:GDMயாசிர் ஃபிர்தவ்ஸி.
Praveen Menon

An excellent doctor with a pleasant personality who gives you a patient hearing Have known him from 2018 and all those who I have recommended have only had good things to say about him. Wishing him all the best for the future
MAG SUNITHA

I had a major complicated heart surgery in April 2021..By the grace of lord and intense care of Dr.Refai Showkathalli I am Alive today..When I about to arrest, he rushed to the hospital .it was late night ( 11pm till 4am) he stayed in the hospital and saved me..Praise be to the lord and grateful thanks to Dr.Refai.God bless and your family and let your hands save lots of life..
shaik Ali

Best cardiologist doctor I've ever seen
NATARAJAN SARAVANAN

Very kind and positive Confident and excellent experience doctor.thank you so much for your kind valuable services ?
Chandramohan Ramasamy

A soft spoken Doctor capable of right diagnosis and prescribing required medicines only. Unwanted procedures and unwanted medicines are out of place for him. Clears all doubts regarding treatment very patiently to the fullest satisfaction. A calm and nice Doctor.
Bubuluddin Ahmed

Good doctor
Sampa Mitra

Better
Sudhangshu Paul

Good
aria chetry

Best treatment, good staff. Best results, doctor refai has been treating my dad since 2016 and there's been a lot of improvement on my dad's health Highly recommended
Malik Ahmed

Sir is very much helpful. He is very much good doctor. I wish his bright future. Ameen.
Ajay Mohan

Dr. Refai Showkathali, has been a phenomenal person in our lives. He is the main reason that my dad at the age of 64 is leading a very normal life. Things did not look good in Nov 2020, when my dad complained of ill-health at the peak of the pandemic. He had a history of heart disease due to high cholesterol levels and I was unfortunately living outside India at that time. I didn't know how to get help for my dad and was really helpless. I consider finding Dr. Refai as my luckiest accident. I set up a virtual visit with him, and Dr. Refai understood the situation immediately and was totally onboard to help. He was very responsive over the email as I was stuck due to travel restrictions, explained to me the results of diagnoses at every stage. He performed two intervention procedures on my dad to remove blocks in the blood vessels and relieve him of pain and poor health. My father felt really great after the procedures and none of the original complaints came back. We have since then been regularly following up with Dr.Refai annually every 6months and are very happy with the care we receive from him and his team. May he go on to save many more lives with his super power???