A year ago, when a 46-year-old man walked into MIOT International to get treatment for fistula, little did he know that he had a malignant mass in the liver.
“A routine test found that he had a mass in the liver. If left untreated, his condition would have worsened. We performed a surgery and removed the tumour weighing 2 kg. A biopsy revealed that it was cancerous. Nearly 60% of his liver was removed,” said R. Surendran, director of Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary (HPB) Surgery and Liver Transplant at the hospital.
Liver and pancreatic cancers are mostly asymptomatic. As a result, they are diagnosed only at an advanced stage. The complications are high, and five-year survival rates are lower, when compared to breast and prostate cancers, he added.
“The mortality rate in liver and pancreatic diseases have reduced now. But the complication rates remain at 30% to 40%,” he pointed out. However, with technological advancements, what was needed was a multidisciplinary approach to treat patients.
To enable young doctors to understand liver and pancreatic diseases and their management, MIOT International is organising a two-day conference — MIOT HPBCON 2018 — on August 18 and 19.
“As such diseases are specific to India, this conference is for doctors from across the country. Liver and pancreatic diseases are lifestyle diseases. Alcohol and viral infections are some of the main causes,” Dr. Surendran told reporters on Friday.
It would focus on the complications following HPB procedures that include prevention, correction and management in the best possible way. When compared to breast and prostrate cancers, the five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancers was low. It was 86% for breast cancer patients, 97% for prostrate cancer and four per cent for pancreatic cancers, he said, quoting the American Cancer Society.