The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

BODY & MIND
MARS therapy provides hope to chronic liver patients
Tripti Nath

Indraprastha Apollo Hospital has recently introduced MARS (Molecular Adsorbents Recirculating System) therapy that works like dialysis. The treatment promises artificial life support to patients with acute and chronic liver failure.

The hospital showcased MARS therapy at a symposium on management of chronic liver diseases here on Saturday. Over 150 medical practitioners from various parts of the country attended the workshop.

Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, Delhi, claims to have overtaken other medical centres in the national Capital in offering this therapy. Medical director and senior Pediatric Gastroenterologist, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, Dr Anupam Sibal, explained that the therapy is a bridge to transplantation. This is especially significant in India where patients have to wait for a long time to get an organ for transplant. “Liver diseases are a leading source of morbidity and mortality in India accounting for over 2,50,000 deaths annually. MARS therapy can effectively manage chronic liver disease if detected in time.

The cost of treatment for a single cycle is Rs 1.4 lakh,” he said.

Dr Sibal, one of the three doctors who performed the first successful liver transplant on an 18-month-old boy from Kanchipuram says that most patients have to wait for long before they can get an organ for transplant.

“On an average, about 60,000 patients need a liver transplant every year. Since 1998, we have done 31 successful transplants. A number of other centres including Ganga Ram Hospital, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Sanjay Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, and Christian Medical College, Vellore, have been doing transplant, but few have been able to achieve a double digit mark.”

The medical director said three patients, a Korean tourists and two Indians have already benefited from the MARS machine bought from Germany. While the Korean tourist who had an acute liver failure went back to Korea after getting three cycles of MARS therapy, the other two patients suffering from chronic liver disease are awaiting an organ for transplant.

International Cancer Congress

Dr Puneet Gupta, Head of Cancer Medicine at Dharamshila Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (DCHRC) in East Delhi made a presentation at an International Cancer Congress in Dubai. Dr Gupta shared with the participants his clinical experience of using a new molecule to treat patients suffering from advanced cancer. He said that the new medicine is an alternative to intravenous chemotherapy and can be taken at home in capsule form with minimal side effects and monitoring. Chief of the Diplomat National Board Medical Oncology Programme at DCHRC, Dr Gupta reported that the new medicine has shown encouraging results in patients suffering from colorectal cancer, breast cancer and Malignant Pseudo Myxoma Peritoneii.

Dr Gupta has received training in blood and marrow transplant at the prestigious MD Anderson Cancer Centre in Houston, Texas, besides training in blood transplant in Vienna University Hospital, Austria, and Singapore General Hospital. He also attended an advanced course in blood cancer, chemotherapy and supportive care at Denmark, Switzerland and New York.

He is the first cancer specialist in India to deliver intrarterial hepatic chemotherapy for liver tumour using intrarterial electronic pump by chrono modulator methods. Prior to this, all the intravenous chemotherapies were being done by very short infusions. A few of his patients have shown noteworthy response to chronomodulated chemotherapy.

Coordinator in Nursing Oncology at DCHRC, Dr Gupta is now trying to introduce a certified nursing oncology programme approved by the Nursing Council of India.

The exceptional workforce pattern at MD Anderson Cancer Centre inspired him to propose a similar system in India, comprising services of clinical nurse, pharma nurse and physician assisted nurse. His special interests include research, training, teaching and technology transfer besides promoting the art and science of synchronous chemo radiation therapy and organ preservation.

Escorts-Kalyani Heart Centre in Gurgaon

Residents of Gurgaon need no longer travel to Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre for an expert opinion on cardiology. Escorts Healthcare is setting up a 25-bed heart centre in the premises of Kalyani Hospital on the Mehrauli- Gurgaon Road. Dr Naresh Trehan, Executive Director of Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre, will inaugurate the centre on Sunday.

The centre is housed in a newly constructed floor of the 85-bed Kalyani Hospital. It will have a heart station, a heart command centre, a cardiac catherisation lab and cardiac operation theatres. The centre will provide specialised cardiac care through preventive health check ups and emerging cardiac services. It will offer numerous other facilities such as 2 D eco doppler, stress eco cardiography, TMT, EKG, pulmonary function tests, holter monitoring, peripheral doppler studies, coronray and peripheral angiography, coronary, caroted, renal and peripheral angioplasty and stenting. The super speciality centre will also provide pace maker implantation and balloon valvoplasty.

State-of-the-art CT scan machine

Sir Ganga Ram Hospital has acquired GE multislice (16 slice) multidetector (16 rows) CT scanner with Linux 4.2 version software. The version was launched only last month during the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America at McCormick Place, Chicago, Illinois in the US.

The Union Minister for Science and Technology and Human Resource Development, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, inaugurated the state-of-the-art CT scan machine here recently.

According to Dr T.P.S Baxi, Director, Department of MRI and CT at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, the CT scanner will facilitate coronary angiography in a non-invasive manner with least discomfort to the patient. “CT coronary angiography is a technique in which the patient can walk out in ten minutes. Unlike catheter angiography, which requires a minimum stay of 24 hours in hospital, the patient can walk out in ten minutes. The cost is Rs 10,000 compared to catheter angiography, which costs anything between Rs 13,000 to Rs 15,000. In this technique, contrast medicine is injected in the arm vein for colouring the coronary arteries. Images are captured by CT scanner. The computer makes the images and tells us the extent of the disease-single vessel, double vessel or triple vessel, the number of areas of stenosis-whether it is because of fat, atheroma, cholesterol and calcification.

The technology produces three- dimensional images of the heart and blood vessels. The degree of stenosis can be measured accurately.”

Dr Baxi said that the new CT scanner installed at the hospital offers head to toe low dose whole body CT in less than three minutes to rule out cancer. This is especially beneficial for patients who have a family history of cancer as it screens the onset of the disease.

“It is an independent screening method for patients suspected to have ischemic heart disease, diabetes and patients with hypercholestrolemia, chronic smokers and persons with family history of heart disease. Those who are suspected to be suffering from transient ischemic attacks and stroke can be subjected to brain profusion study and can be administered blood thinning agents. Besides, cerebral and neck angiography can be done with total comfort and ease to prevent further attacks of strokes and TIA. Assessment of congenital malformation is also easy,” he said.

Manvinder, Sonu help Airlines win
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, January 31
A strokeful 82 by Manvinder Singh Bisla and a deadly bowling spell of 3 for 25 by Sonu Sharma helped Indian Airlines defeat Sonnet Club by 45 runs in the DDCA Super A Division League at the Palam ground.

Scores: Indian Airlines: 209 for 6 in 40 overs (Manvinder Bisla 82, Manish Sharma 47, Chetanya Nanda 2 for 29). Sonnet Club: 164 all out in 36.4 overs (Saket Bhatia 55, Deepak Joon 26, Sonu Sharma 3 for 25, Vineet Jain 2 for 27). Delhi Audit beat Bright Club by five wickets in a Super A Division match at the Mohan Meakins ground.

Scores: Bright Club: 164 all out in 34 overs (Nischal Gaur 51, Siddarth Ahlawat 29, Satish Salwan 4 for 32).

Delhi Audit: 165 for 5 in 33.3 overs (Pankaj Joshi 72, Virender Kashyap 59, Mandeep Singh 2 for 13).

Cricket umpires honoured

The Sandeep Suri Memorial Cricket Tournament Committee honoured the umpires in its panel. Youth Congress general secretary Ajay Goel felicitated the umpires, who were: Pradeep Gupta, Dharmesh Bhardwaj, K K Tiwari, R S Rawat, Joginder Sharma, Mohd Naseem, Pramod Sood, Ajay Mittal, Rana Sunil Singh, Rajesh Lucky, Mohd Naseem and Krishan Sharma.

Salwan Boys enter semis

Salwan Boys School defeated Salwan Public School by 143 runs and entered the semi-final of the Rohtak Road Gymkhana Inter-School Under-16 Cricket Tournament for the R P Jain Trophy.

Scores: Salwan Boys: 210 for 2 in 40 overs (Yogesh Nagar 77, Siddarth Sharma 58, Shobhit Kaushik 46 n o). Salwan Public: 77 all out in 38.3 overs (Naman Gupta 27 n o, Anant Marichi 3 for 14, Darshan Kajania 3 for 8, Rahul Bhardwaj 3 for 15).