'Pancreatic diseases due to alcohol'
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 9 — On the second day of the three-day international conference on controversies and challenges of pancreatic diseases being organised by the Department of Surgery of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) here, experts discussed how potentially fatal various pancreatic diseases could be, as these have no specific treatment till date.

In an exclusive interview with the TNS, visiting delegates talked not only about various studies and works being done but also delved on the alcohol abuse causing the pancreatic diseases in India.

Prof J.A. Windsor of New Zealand who discussed events leading to the pancreatic damage, said, "The incidence of the pancreatic diseases is primarily due to alcohol use in New York and Glasgow and because of gall stone in New Zealand. In Punjab, the both factors were responsible for the disease. I am concerned about certain dogmatic ideas being expressed at the conference here because when we talk about such diseases in a country like India, there needs to be a discussion on various strategic ideas." He also stressed the need for developing an intestinal focus on the management of the pancreatic diseases. Prof Windsor has lived for almost 12 years in India. His father was a heart surgeon associated with the PGI in late 60s.

Prof W.Y. Lau of Hong Kong said the common areas between India and his country were the prevalence of the pancreatic diseases, mainly pancreatic cancer and pancreatic trauma. "However, my country has less incidence of the pancreatic diseases caused by alcohol abuse," he said. Meanwhile, in his lecture on 'Pancreatic Trauma' Prof Lau said blunt injury to the pancreas was common in children, especially while riding bicycles. He also said growing violence and the use of firearms had led to an increased incidence of severe injury to the pancreas, with a 50 per cent death rate.

Dr Helmunt Freiss, of Switzerland who lectured on how to prevent complications following the pancreatic surgery, said, "The problems before the West today are mainly related to eating habits. Fat-rich diets, more alcohol and less vegetables attribute to this disease." He also said the tropical chronic pancreatitis was something found only in this part of the country and was quite unknown in the West.

On the issue of not much known about pancreatic diseases, Prof P. Khanduri of New Delhi said the situation seemed to be more or less the same as what it was about 75 years ago. "The incidence of diseases has gone up and the pancreatic diseases seem as formidable as before." He added that the most common causes in this region seemed to be gall stones and alcohol abuse.

Prof Andrew Kingsnorth of England discussed the role of various non-operative and operative means which could restrict the processes of release of chemicals and other substances that damaged the pancreas. While talking to the TNS, he said, "A new drug, with the development of which I have been involved for the past seven to eight years, has proved to be ineffective. This has made us understand the number of strategies involved in the treatment and management of the pancreatic diseases." On the issue of alcohol abuse, he said that according to the UK government's guidelines, 14 units per week was recommended for women and 21 units per week for men. One unit was equal to half a pint of beer or 1 measure of spirits or a glass of beer.

Dr Tibor Gyokeres of Hungary said in his country, a spice called peperica was being used regularly in normal local cuisine which found to be a causative factor of the pancreatic diseases. He added that though Indians were also known to use spices in their cuisine, the similar had not happened here.