Osteoporosis cause of 83 per cent of all spinal fractures

Osteoporosis, a disorder characterised by decrease in the density of bone and bone mass resulting in fragile and weak bones, is of late proving to be one of the major 'silent killer diseases,' in the country, a specialist said today. According to various studies, osteoporosis-affected population in India would be around 28 million, with 20 per cent of women and 10 to 15 per cent of men aged above 50 becoming osteoporotic, Dr S Rajasekaran, Director, Ganga Hospital and President of Association of Spine Surgeons of India (ASSI) told reporters here. Stating that the osteoporotic fractures occured in the spine, wrist and the hip bones, were largedly under-diagnosed and undere-treated in India, he said the problem was particularly worse in rural and semi-urban areas.

In urban areas, this was widely prevalent due to poor lifestyle pattern of the people and in general, 83 per cent of all spinal fractures were caused by Osteoporosis, which could be treated if the patient reached the surgeon on time with procedures such as Kyphoplasty and vertbroplasty, Rajasekaran said. The most important preventive measures are lifestyle change including quitting cigarette smoking, curtailing excessive alcohol intake, exercising regularly and consuming a balanced diet with adequate calcium and vitamin D. The World Osteroporosis day is being observed today, with the theme 'Don't bend to Osteoporosis,' Rajasekaran added.

Workshop on protecting cardiologists from radiation

Experts on radiation, including one from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and cardiologists from India and abroad will discuss at a two-day workshop here on December 18 and 19 measures to prevent the impact of radiation in catheterisation laboratories on cardiologists.

Organised by the PSG College of Technology, PSG Hospital and Northshore University Health System in the U.S., the workshop will deal with safe practices in the laboratories.Among various aspects, it will focus on the radiation during interventional cardiology procedures such as angiogram and angioplasty.Medical director of PSG Hospitals and one of the faculty members of the workshop J.S. Bhuvaneswaran said that cardiologists were exposed to radiation when they performed interventional procedures.

Professor of medical physics at PSG College of Technology K.N. Govinda Rajan said the focus was on educating without creating a fear psychosis.Both Dr. Bhuvaneswaran and Mr. Rajan pointed out that going by the current trend, the country would see only an increase in the number of cases of heart diseases. The use of modern technology, already in force, would become inevitable.Therefore, the stress would have to be on safe use.

Cardiologist G. Bernardi of Italy, Radiation Safety Specialist from IAEA, Vienna, Madan. M. Rehani and director of medical physics from Evanston Hospital at Illinois in the U.S. S. Guru Prasad would be the faculty at the workshop.

A radiation protection specialist from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board in Mumbai was also expected to joint them.

Hospitals briefed on insurance scheme

he hospitals enlisted in the Chief Minister’s Insurance Scheme for the poor were recently briefed on the procedural formalities to be adhered to while treating a patient covered under the scheme.

Rural Industries and Animal Husbandry Minister Pongalur N Palanisamy, the Project Director of Tamil Nadu Hospital Services Project and Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society, S. Vijaykumar, Chief Medical Officer from Star Health Insurance Dr. Prasad, Project Director Vinay Kumar, Deputy Director of Health Department Dr.Vijaylakshmi, Collector P. Umanath and others took part in the meeting.

The representatives of the hospitals in the four districts i.e., the Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Tirupur, Erode were briefed on the procedures to be adhered to while admitting a patient covered under the scheme. The hospitals were told to avoid a situation of informing the Government and the insurance firm on completion of the surgery.The meeting reviewed the number of cases performed. Sri Ramakrishna Hospital, Coimbatore in general and its Oncology Department had treated the highest number of patients under the insurance scheme.

In Coimbatore, so far total claim of Rs. 3 crore had been disbursed

Laser assisted spine surgery !

A laser-assisted endoscopic surgery was performed on a woman for a prolapsed disc at the Kovai Medical Center and Hospital (KMCH) here recently. A press release from the hospital has said the laser surgery for a spinal disc problem was a rare procedure. It was being done only in two or three centres in the country, it said.

Spine surgeon Sreedharan Namboothiri performed the surgery on Manimegalai (38) of Rasipuram, who was suffering from pain in the back and leg for the past couple of years. When she consulted the local doctors they advised her to undergo spinal surgery but Manimegalai feared post-surgical complications.

But, she was brought to KMCH where a magnetic resonance imaging revealed a large disc prolapse and it was compressing the nerve route.A local anaesthesia was given to the woman and a 0.2 mm incision was made using an endoscope.“We used Holnium Yag laser to remove the disc and the entire procedure lasted only one hour,” Dr. Namboothiri said in the release. The woman got immediate relief from the acute pain that gave her sleepless nights, he said. Manimegalai could not have even dreamt of quick relief, but for such modern treatment procedures, he added.

Such a large disc prolapse could not be treated in the conventional method as it involved making a large incision to remove the disc. This would lead to complications, he said.Laser assisted endoscopic discectomy was a boon to people suffering from this kind of disorders, he claimed.

“Yag laser will help in doing a very high precision surgery, especially working inside a spinal canal with very high anatomical constraint” he pointed out. The laser beams could vaporise even very tough tissues and it helped operate with an accuracy of 0.2mm. The post-operative result was excellent, he said.KMCH Chairman Nalla G Palaniswami said that even though laser had been used in many other areas of the medicine, its introduction in spine surgery had been very late because of the highly complex spine structure.This was a path-breaking spine surgery with a really good social impact because many patients suffering from spinal disorders did not seek treatment fearing complications.

The release quoted Manimegalai as saying that she felt better now and was able to have normal sleep. Before the surgery, she used to take some medicines for temporary relief. But when the pain became unbearable, she was told that surgery was the only way out.

ASICON 2009 at cbe !!

New surgical techniques, modern technology, safe surgery and ethical practices will be the main themes of the annual conference of the Association of Surgeons of India – ASICON 2009 – to be held at the CODISSIA trade fair complex here from December 25 to 30.

Announcing this on Thursday, president of the association and Chairman of Gem Hospital C. Palanivelu said national and international faculties would perform surgeries at various hospitals in the city and these would be beamed live to the conference venue. Open and laparoscopic surgeries would be performed. A continuous medical education programme would be held ahead of the inauguration of the main conference on December 27.

This would be the biggest medical conference to be ever held in Coimbatore, with about 5,000 surgeons in diverse specialities participating. Earlier, the ASI’s conferences were held in metropolitan cities. This was the first time the association had chosen Coimbatore as the venue.

CyberKnife cancer cure at Apollo hospitals

Apollo Speciality Cancer Hospital in Chennai has installed latest state-of-the-art CyberKnife cancer cure equipment that could provide acute precision radiation treatment at 360 degree angle for patients with cancer.Talking to reporters, A.N. Vaidhyswaran, Senior Consultant Radiation Oncology at Apollo Speciality Cancer Hospital, said that it is an innovation in the treatment of cancer.

The CyberKnife brings an unparalleled approach to treating inoperable tumours. He said that the advanced technology behind CyberKnife uses real time guidance technology and computer controlled robotics to deliver an extremely precise dose of radiation to targets, avoiding the surrounding of healthy tissue and adjusting for patient and tumour movement during treatment.

The sophisticated treatment could be used as an alternative to open surgery occasionally.The treatment could even convert a technically inoperable tumour to operable one and does not cause pain and therefore does not require anaesthesia.

Vast majority of CyberKnife treatments are out-patient procedures allowing patients to continue with their regular activities.Many of the available high precision radiation techniques require application of some kind of frame around patient’s body.

For details, patients could contact 044-24334455 or send e-mail to cyberknife@apollohospitals.com or visit apollohospitals.com/cyberknife.

Surgery Live telecast to UK university !

Gem Hospital in the city shared its expertise in laparoscopic gastro-intestinal surgeries with participants at the International Conference on Advanced Laparoscopic Surgery, held at Dundee University in the United Kingdom on Tuesday and Wednesday.The procedures done during these days included splenectomy and surgery for cancer in the food pipe, Director of the hospital and gastro-intestinal surgeon C. Palanivelu, who led the two-day event, said in a press release.

Dr. Palanivelu and his team performed the surgeries and explained to the participants at the conference some tough surgeries that the hospital had been doing regularly. The teleconferencing method facilitated an interaction between the surgeon and the conference delegates. Gem Hospital was one of the three centres in the world that took part in the teleconference with the university. It was the only one from Asia, he said. The other centres were in Europe and the U.S.

Dr. Palanivelu performed laparoscopic surgeries for the cancer of the oesophagus (food pipe) and liver and splenectomy for blood disorder in a child. He said that with advances in telecommunication facilities, a surgeon could now demonstrate such complex surgeries form his own hospital and teach these to others across the world through teleconferencing.

Terms such as ‘tele-proctoring’ and ‘tele-mentoring’ have been coined by surgeons in recent years to denote such ‘remote teaching’ exercises, he said. Dr. Palanivelu said it was important that more surgeons took to laparoscopic procedures to treat complex problems as the minimally invasive method was of immense benefit to patients.

Buy T shirts and help cancer affected children !!

This Deepavali, gifting a T-shirt to your loved could bring back a smile to a cancer-affected child at Sri Ramakrishna Institute of Oncology and Research (SRIOR) here.As part of its fund-raising effort to treat poor cancer-affected children free of cost, this year SRIOR has ventured into an initiative where anyone can design and sell T-shirts and give filling to the institute’s Join Hands movement towards cancer cure.

The caption — Helping hands, better than praying lips — on the T-shirts describes well its purpose. The initiative is being implemented through Sri Ramakrishna Care Trust.“Poor children affected by cancer seek financial help for their prolonged hospitalisation and treatment. This means contributions are expected from philanthropists. Through our movement Join Hands, they can chip in for a cause,” Oncology Institute director Dr P Guhan told Express, on Friday.The T-shirts, priced at Rs 500, are of export quality. “Since students are fond of T-shirts, this year they can act differently by buying from us,” he said .For bulk orders, the corporates can approach the SRIOR as part of their corporate social responsibility, he noted, and added that the receipts obtained for purchasing the T-shirts could be used for IT exemption, as well. Even department stores can join hands to fight the disease by buying T-shirts from us, he said.As of now, 16 children are under free treatment at the hospital and 120 have been cured.

Hotel Sri Annapoorna has come forward to give these children free food three times a day as part of their gesture towards cancer cure.Meanwhile, SRCT has planned to construct an exclusive ward for free treatment of cancer in Sri Ramakrishna Hospital.“Managing trustee of SNR Sons R Venkatesalu expressed his willingness to contribute land to set up the ward. We will provide free food, accommodation and treatment to all cancer patients,” Dr Guhan said. He stated that SNR Sons Trust has already donated Rs 1 crore to the corpus fund for free cancer treatment.The T-shirts are available at Fitness Centre and at Thats Y Foods at R S Puram and Yokohama tyre shop on the Avinashi road. If one is thinking of gifting or buying, contact 98946-33551; 98650-35656; 0422-4389797; 4500203.

Breast cancer awareness month begins !

close to 1,500 people, including girl children from rural areas in the district, took part in a run conducted here on Sunday by Sri Ramakrishna Institute of Oncology and Research as a start to the breast cancer awareness month observance.

Flagged off by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime and Traffic) N. Kamini, the run sought to draw the attention of the public to the dangers of delayed treatment of cancer in the breast. Director of the institute P. Guhan said women could avail themselves of free consultation for a month starting from Sunday.Dr. Guhan explained that the awareness month was being observed to stress early detection.“Unfortunately, even educated women in the urban areas do not come for early check-up and treatment. Inhibition is a stumbling block to early detection,” he said.

While early menarche, late menopause and family history could be the main factors, excess fat and the lack of exercise were the co-factors in breast cancer cases. These co-factors were strong in the urban areas where working women had little time for exercise. Dr. Guhan said that in the rural areas, case of cancer in the cervix was more and this was because of lack of hygiene. “Awareness level has to go up in the urban areas. Only then women will come forward for early detection. In the U.S., 70 per cent of the breast cancer cases are detected early through a mammogram. These cases are detected when the lump in the breast is less than 1 cm. For these cases, only surgery will be required and not radiation or chemotherapy,” Dr. Guhan said. But, in India, more than 50 per cent of the lumps in the breast were more than 5 cm. Women came to the cancer wing for treatment only when the disease was at an advanced stage. And, these included stages of skin ulceration and bleeding. “Such cases included even educated and financially well-disposed women,” Dr. Guhan said. On October 14, the institute would distribute two lakh pamphlets on breast self-examination, mammogram, symptoms of and factors that caused the disease. Various treatment methods would also be explained. The pamphlets would be distributed in Coimbatore, the Nilgiris, Erode, Namakkal, Tirupur and Dindigul districts.At a function organised on Sunday by Kovai Medical Center and Hospital, Medical Oncologist and Haematologist Sarada Krishnamurthy said more programmes should be organised to step up awareness on the disease in rural areas. Vice-Chairperson of the hospital Thavamani Devi Palaniswamy inaugurated the programme.

Dr. Sarada said rural women consulted a doctor only when the disease was at an advanced stage and inhibition in discussing the problem was the case in most women in both rural and urban areas. Cosmetic Surgeon Arthanari Kumar Prasad said breast reconstruction was possible now for persons on whom mastectomy (breast removal) was performed because of the cancer reaching a stage where such as procedure became inevitable. The hospital offered free consultation to mark the start of the awareness month, it said in a press release.

Stem cell therapy cures girl of thalassemia

Coimbatore-based Senthil Kumar's eight-year-old daughter Thamirabharuni had been cured of thalassemia - a genetic defect - through cord blood stem cell transplantation. For six-and-a-half years Thamirabharuni suffered from this fatal disease, going through painful blood transfusion and medication until stem cell transplantation using cord blood stem cells gave.

A newborn sibling's umbilical cord blood provides a better chance of HLA matching as there is a 25 per cent chance for a perfect match, and 50 per cent chance for a partial match. Also using a sibling's cord blood for transplant lowers the chances of donor rejection, and is therefore considered as a preferred source for transplantation compared to using stem cells from a non-related source.

Dr. Revathy Raj who examined Thamirabharuni, had recommended her to start on iron reducing medication initially. She had asked Senthil Kumar and his wife to consider another pregnancy and go for umbilical cord blood stem cell banking. With a pre-natal test it was also confirmed that the foetus was not affected with thalassemia. For a year, the extracted cord blood stem cells were preserved under specific conditions. HLA test was done which proved that the tissues of both the children matched and the treatment could proceed. The first step was to destroy all the existing bone marrow cells for which chemotherapy was used. Then the donor's stem cells were injected in the patient body. The procedure requires no surgery, said Dr Raj.

In March 2009, the stem cells transplantation was done by Dr. Revathy Raj at the Apollo Hospital Chennai and it helped Thamirabharuni get rid of thalassemia. The stem cells that were transplanted came from her brother's cord blood and his bone marrow as there was deficient amount of stem cells in Pugazhendhi cord blood.

"We at LifeCell would like to congratulate Senthil Kumar and his family on Thamirabharuni's triumph over thalassemia. This success I am sure will give new hope to thousands of families whose children are unfortunately the victim of this dreadful disease. It feels very fulfilling that LifeCell could make an impact in a child's life… we are very happy to be a part of this success story," said Mayur Abhaya, president and executive director of LifeCell International.

Endoscopy used to remove bone piece from man's throat

A bite of a chicken dish turned out to be a nightmarish experience for a 53-year old man as a one-inch long bone piece got stuck in his throat, threatening his life before doctors at a hospital here removed it in a rare procedure.K P Thangavelu underwent an endoscopic procedure and has completely recovered, Dr C Palanivelu of Gem Hospital and Research here told reporters tonight.

The man, who had developed pain while eating chicken a week ago and unable to hear or move his neck, was referred to the hospital. A barium test revealed a bone piece stuck in the throat, resulting in a cavity of pus surrounding the bone and blocking the airway, Palanivelu said.

A team, led by Dr P S Rajan performed endoscopic drainage of pus and the bone piece was removed after a 15-minute surgery under anaesthesia. Any further delay in the procedure would have compressed the airway and the life of the patient would have been in danger, he said.

He claimed this was one of the rare occasions when pus was drained endoscopically without need for open surgery.

PSG Hospital places pacemaker in woman’s leg

A heart care team at the PSG Hospital has placed a pacemaker in a 54-year-old woman’s leg to improve her heartbeat rate. The usual procedure is to place the pacemaker in the upper chest region or a little below the heart. But, the woman’s veins from the hands were so malformed that the hospital had to resort to the rare procedure of placing the pacemaker in her leg.

Medical Director of the hospital and cardiologist J.S. Bhuvaneshwaran told that the team had to carry out an intensive search for earlier procedures elsewhere in the country or in the world to place the pacemaker in an alternative place.“We found that the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi had done two cases of permanent femoral (thigh) trans-veinous pacemaker. That gave us the encouragement and prospect of saving the woman,” Dr. Bhuvaneshwaran said.

The patient, E. Meenakshi of Selvapuram in the city, had come to the hospital three years ago with a heartbeat rate of 30-40 beats a minute instead of the normal 70 to 100. She fainted often because of this problem.

Dr. Bhuvaneshwaran and his team decided to provide a pacemaker for her. The pacemaker was normally placed in a pouch created by a cardio-thoracic surgeon in the upper chest (left or right) region. The lead (or wire) from the pacemaker was passed through the vein to the right ventricle (lower chamber) of the heart. The battery operated pacemaker sent electrical impulses through the lead to the heart and this kept the heart beating at the normal rate. Soon after the pacemaker was installed, the surgeons could programme the heartbeat rate.

But, in Meenakshi’s case, this was not possible because she had malformed veins from the right and left hands. So, her thorax was opened to create a pouch between the heart and the stomach in a procedure called trans-thoracic epicardial pace maker installation.Dr. Bhuvaneshwaran said that though the procedure was successful, the battery was getting exhausted soon. She got the pacemaker replaced six months ago. The battery in this also lasted for only another six months and the episodes of fainting returned.

After finding that two femoral procedures had been done in the country, Dr. Bhuvaneshwaran, cardiologist Sajan Narayanan and cardio-thoracic surgeon E. Krishnan prepared to perform the rare procedure.“Now, we had other problems to address though we found an alternative,” Dr. Bhuvaneshwaran said. “This procedure required a longer lead as it had to be passed through the vein from the thigh to the heart. The earlier firm that supplied the pacemaker did not have it. A Kolkatta-based company then offered to provide the pacemaker and a longer lead as it wanted to be a part of this rare procedure,” the cardiologist said.

“Meenakshi is fine. She has survived because of being a fighter. We are going to publish this procedure in the Indian Heart Journal. We want more heart centres to know of this procedure and save patients who cannot undergo the routine procedure because of malformed veins in the arms,” Dr. Bhuvaneshwaran said.

CTS Donates Microscope To Sankara Eye Centre

Chief Executive Officer of Cognizant Foundation S. Madhavan (left) donates an operating microscope to Sankara Eye Centre in Coimbatore on Monday. The eye centre’s Managing Trustee R.V. Ramani (second right) and Cognizant’s Vice-President (Projects) Vishnu Potty (second left) are in the picture. Cognizant Foundation, the corporate-social responsibility arm of Cognizant Technology Solutions, donated a Rs.28 lakh worth operating microscope to Sankara Eye Centre here on Monday. The equipment was provided to the centre to support its community eye care programme for the poor.

Chief Executive Officer of Cognizant Foundation S. Madhavan handed over the equipment to the centre’s Managing Trustee R.V. Ramani at a function held as part of the Eye Donation Fortnight. Vice-President (Projects) of CTS Vishnu Potty was present. Mr. Madhavan said that while every corporate firm had a role to play in the area of corporate-social responsibility, Cognizant believed that bigger and successful corporate firms had a greater role in working for social welfare. The foundation joined hands with various service organisations to reach out to the needy.

He complimented Sankara Eye Care institutions on their significant contribution to provide eye care to the needy. Mr. Potty said that identifying the right service partner was a tough task for Cognizant. The work done at Sankara Eye Care institutions was inspiring and Cognizant members would involve themselves with various service activities at the hospital.

Dr. Ramani thanked the foundation for donating the equipment. While around 500 free eye surgeries were being performed every day by Sankara Eye Care institutions across the country, the Coimbatore Centre alone performed around 200 surgeries a day. The new equipment magnified the image, provided a lot of illumination and enabled the surgeon to perform operations with precision. The equipment also had a co-observer’s tube which enabled the surgeon assisting the procedure to have real time view of the entire surgical process. The equipment could also be connected to a video monitor and the surgery could be telecast live for the benefit of the doctors and medical students..

Shoulder surgery workshop

To create awareness about shoulder surgery and improve the skills of the surgeons in India, an Indo-US shoulder course will be held at Coimbatore on October 25 and October 26.

Organised by Ortho One, a Coimbatore-based orthopedic specialty care centre, the two-day course will include shoulder replacement, articular surface replacement, arthroscopy and shoulder rehabilitation workshop. Founder and chairman of Ortho One, Dr David Rajan said, "Shoulder injuries especially cuff injuries are common among athletes in various sports like cricket, tennis, volleyball, basketball, golf, etc. About a decade back, joint surgeries usually meant knees. Now, shoulder surgery is gaining prominence." Still the number of shoulder surgeons is very less as compared to western countries like US, where each city has at least two surgeons specialising in shoulder injuries, he added.

K.G. Foundation awards for doctors

The K.G. Foundation would give away on August 31 the Dynamic Indian of the Millennium Award to five doctors, in recognition of their contributions in their areas of speciality.

Those chosen for the award are: Valluvan Jeevanandam, heart transplant surgeon and chief of the Department of Cardio-thoracic Surgery at the University of Chicago; Ramakanta Panda, Vice-Chairman and cardio-vascular thoracic surgeon at Asian Heart Institute; Krishna S. Iyer, Director of the Department of Paediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery at Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre; Anil Gangadhar Tendolkar, cardio-thoracic surgeon of Prince Aly Khan Hospital and Anil Kumar Mulpur, Vice-President and Clinical Director at Narayana Hrudayalaya Malla Reddy Hospital in Hyderabad. A press release from K.G. Hospital Chairman G. Bakthavathsalam said the award was being presented to mark the centenary year of the K.G. Group of Institutions. He said the K.G. Eye Hospital had done 90,000 free surgeries and the K.G. Hospital had done 650 free heart surgeries.

Sensitisation Meeting For Doctors

The District Administration, Department of Public Health and the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital will conduct at the hospital on Monday a sensitisation meeting for doctors in the Government and private sectors on combating A (H1N1) flu. Joint Director of Health Services M. Duraikannan said on Thursday that the meeting was being organised following advice from District Collector P. Umanath that it was important to keep all the doctors informed of the symptoms of the flu and the importance of quick referral to the CMCH for appropriate treatment.

Dr. Duraikannan said that enlisting the services of the private practitioners also would provide the advantage of spreading the vigil wider. “General practitioners and all specialists such as gynaecologists, orthopaedicians, paediatricians, dentists and cardiologists can attend the meeting at 4 p.m. at the auditorium of the CMCH,” the health official said. All doctors were welcome to participate in the meeting. Sometimes, people might not show symptoms of the flu initially. The doctors should be trained to detect the symptoms in these cases and refer them for treatment at the designated centre.

The objective of this meeting was to impress upon the doctors the need to create a strong referral system, because this held the key to quick and effective treatment. The doctors would be asked to monitor patients who came to their hospitals or clinics for consultation on or treatment of other ailments. If there was a strong suspicion of the flu, the patients should be told to approach the CMCH immediately. The doctors would also be asked to educate their patients on flu prevention.

Basic precautions of keeping three feet away from people who coughed or had cold, and washing the hands well would be advocated. “The Collector, Dean of the CMCH V. Kumaran and I will speak to the doctors on all these aspects that are vital to early detection,” Dr. Duraikannan said. The doctors could seek clarification on the doubts they had. Joined by non-Governmental organisations, the health department would distribute among the public pamphlets on A (H1N1) flu symptoms and preventive measures.

“Nearly 1.5 lakh pamphlets will be distributed in Tirupur on Saturday and about 5,000 in Coimbatore city,” he said. The Coimbatore Medical College Hospital on Thursday took throat swabs of six persons – five men and a woman – and sent these for testing to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases in New Delhi. Among those who gave their samples on Thursday, one person had travelled to the city from the U.S., another from Singapore and another from Mumbai. A student had come from Bangalore. Official sources said that the test results of close to 40 persons were yet to come from the institute. The delay was attributed to the heavy load at the institute.

Students With Protective Masks @ Class

Students along with their teacher wearing protective masks at St. Antony’s School in Coimbatore Wednesday. Coimbatore city and the suburbs are witnessing a scramble for masks as people seek these desperately to avoid contracting the A (H1N1) flu virus. A couple of private schools had all its students attending classes with the protective mask. Health officials, however, said only those affected by the flu and those attending on them needed to wear the masks.

Medical shops said on Wednesday that people were flocking to these to buy masks, which they believed would provide a protective cover. Some members of the public said that seeing this demand, the shops charges double the cost of the mask. Inquiries with one of the shops revealed that the actual cost of a three-layer disposable mask was Rs.3 a piece. The person running it said that the cost was higher on Tuesday because the suppliers themselves had raised the price in view of the sudden spurt in buying these.

“It is Rs. 3 today (Wednesday), but there is no stock,” said M. Anbarasu of Aruna Medicals on Marudhamalai Road. “Normally, we keep only about 10 masks. Only students from the Bharathiar University used to purchase these for their laboratory use. No one anticipated the flu and the consequent demand for the masks,” he said. On Wednesday, 50 persons approached the shop for masks in three to four hours since it opened for the day. “Mostly, these were being asked for school-going children,” Mr. Anbarasu said.

The scenario on Avanashi Road at Peelamedu reflected greater panic. The manager of a shop that belonged to a chain of pharmacies said 100 masks were sold from this outlet alone by afternoon. It was more on Tuesday. But, this shop said the mask cost Rs.6. Other than blaming the higher cost on suppliers, there was no other explanation on the varying cost of the same type of mask. The Coimbatore Medical College Hospital took for testing the blood samples and throat and nasal swabs of 16 persons on Wednesday. Sources said the results of the samples taken earlier were awaited.

Interventional Radiology Website Launched

Secretary of Information Technology, Government of Tamil Nadu, P.W.C. Davidar (left), launching the website on Interventional Radiology of Kovai Medical Center and Hospital in Coimbatore on Wednesday. Chairman of the hospital Nalla G. Palaniswami (second left) and Chief of Radiology Services Mathew Cherian (third left) are in the picture. Choice is an important factor in the legacy that an individual leaves behind, P.W.C. Davidar, Information Technology secretary, Government of Tamil Nadu, said here on Wednesday.

At a meeting organised by the Kovai Medical Center and Hospital (KMCH) on “The Impact of Interventional Radiology in the Society”, Mr. Davidar launched the website http://www.irtreatment.org/ and spoke on “The legacy we leave behind”. He said every individual left behind a legacy. Every one should choose legacies with values. The legacies that one left behind could be habits, patterns of lifestyle, attitudes or assets. It was something handed down.

And, the legacy could be at the family or society-level. “All of us have been affected or benefited by somebody’s legacy.” Choice was an important factor and each individual had the choice to leave behind a good legacy. It was important to recognise the legacies that an individual was part of and to support the legacy that others were building, he said. Kavitha Rajan, Director of Master Mind Solutions, explained the features of the website. Dr. Nalla G. Palaniswami, chairman of the hospital, spoke about Interventional Radiology. Some of the patients who had been treated with interventional radiology shared their experiences.

Interventional Radiology Website Launched

Interventional radiologist at Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital, Mathew Cherian, explains contents of his website on interventional radiology, in Coimbatore. Advances in the field of medicine now offer an option of treating a bulge in the blood vessel in the brain without the need for an open surgery.

Interventional radiology applies the minimally invasive technique to access the brain from the thigh, to put a coil in the bulge and stop the blood vessel from bursting. But, how many people know of this option that can enable a patient return home in just 24 hours since the procedure? Not many. And, this is why Chief of Radiology Services at Kovai Medical Center and Hospital Mathew Cherian has launched a website on interventional radiology.

Teaming up with a web designer, V. Kavitha of Master Mind Solution in the city, Dr. Cherian now has an interactive website ( http://www.irtretment.org/) that tells people about the use of interventional radiology in diverse areas: putting a stent in the blood vessel in the brain, to treat vascular malformation in the eye and fibroid in the uterus and to stop life-threatening internal bleeding.

Dr. Cherian loves animation because it removes the morbidity that is normally found in the overdose of text. He has used animation liberally to attract the attention of the browsers and help them understand the procedure better. Ms. Kavitha, who says she designs websites for clients in the U.S., has gone a step further by having the doctor giving a voice-over to the animation. The audio part provides the extra impact that is needed, she says. As a coil snakes through the blood vessel towards the brain, Dr. Cherian explains how it prevents a rupture and saves a life.

Apart from being a reference portal, the website also offers an online appointment facility. Patients can access the appointment schedule of the doctor and find out when he is available. Being an interactive site, the doctor scrutinises the requests and grants appointment. “Ultimately, the patients land here with the knowledge of the procedure that is to be performed on them. In the process of fixing the appointment, they have already gone through the information provided on the procedures,” says Dr. Cherian.

“We designed this site in such a way that it caters to the needs of the both medical (doctors) and non-medical persons (patients/general public),” says Ms. Kavitha. “This is also a learning portal; a small postgraduate class room or clinic,” he points out. “Postgraduate doctors in our hospital or doctors in any other medical institution across the world can access this site and know of the procedures and the cases we have done,” he explains. “Though done in a private hospital, we have made this a learning portal for anyone across the world.”

The website has a list of all standard reference books and links to every site available on interventional radiology. A significant component is the uploading of a ‘Case of the Week’. The toughest and interesting case is chosen and uploaded for everyone to learn from. Young doctors who want to apply for “observership” (to learn the procedure at the hospital) can also apply online through this website. The probable dates are available on a calendar on the site. Dr. Cherian goes through the bio-data submitted online to choose the candidates.

12 More Suspected Of Swineflu

Twelve more suspected cases of swine flu were reported to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) on Monday and they included two classmates (both girls) of a 10-year-old girl who tested positive on Friday. Blood samples and throat swabs of these persons were sent to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases in New Delhi. Doctors from the Department of Public Health and the CMCH screened 56 classmates of the girl at a city school and two of them were found to have flu-like symptoms. A doctor who treated the flu-positive girl was among the eight who complained of the symptoms.

Doctors said that three of the suspected cases were from Pune, where a girl died recently of A (H1N1) influenza. They were: two students (a boy and a girl) of a law college in Pune and a software engineer working in the same city. The girl student had come to her home at Sowripalayam and the boy to his house at Ram Nagar, both in the city. The software engineer hailed from Namakkal. He arrived at Namakkal from Pune on Sunday and on experiencing the symptoms, he came to the hospital on Monday. Another girl from Coimbatore city complained of the symptoms, but the doctors said she had no history of travel or known contact with flu-positive persons. So was the case of a woman staying in a hostel in the city. CMCH Dean V. Kumaran told The Hindu that the flu-positive girl was still under quarantine at her house in the city and that she was being monitored well. “She is wearing a three-layer mask. So are those attending on her,” the Dean said.

“We are also planning to ask the NICD whether a higher level test needs to be done for the girl, as she did not have contact with any flu-positive person. “She had not travelled anywhere outside Coimbatore, but only between home and school”, the Dean said. The hospital got the phone numbers of the parents of all her classmates. “We will contact the parents every day to monitor the condition of the children. They can also contact us on my number or of the Resident Medical Officer or on the hospital number. We have given all our phone numbers to the school,” Dr. Kumaran said.

The Dean said that by the end of the day four more persons gave their blood samples and throat swabs and went into house quarantine. The hospital got the phone numbers of all those quarantined at home. They would be contact when the results arrived. With more suspected cases flowing in, the CMCH would create more space to quarantine these. “We will convert our special wards into quarantine wards as the present isolation ward has only 10 beds,” Dr. Kumaran said.