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BODY & MIND The workshop was also attended by Dr T. S. Sidhu (HOD-ENT at Dr RML Hospital), organising chairman of the workshop along with patrons Dr Shantanu Banerjee and Dr T. V. Krishna Rao. The team of foreign faculty, who attended the workshop, were Dr Trifon Kiratzidis (Greece), Prof K. Boheim (Austria), Dr Paul Boyd (UK) and Prof Micheal Fritsch (USA). A total of 300 ENT specialists from all over the world attended the workshop. The landmark feature of this workshop was the ‘Live Transmission’ of the cochlear implant surgery, using the Minimum Surgical Intervention - Veria technique, performed by Dr J. M. Hans. Later, in the day discussions were held on various approaches to the surgery including those on the benefits of the most sought-after trans canal (Veria) approach. Various orations and panel discussions on surgical aspects of Cochlear Implant, Audiological Assessment, Brain Plasticity were also held along with multidisciplinary panel discussion (ENT Surgeon, Paediatricians, Psychologist and Audiologist). The cochlear implant is an elective treatment for those who have lost all or most of their useful hearing in both ears. A cochlear implant is an electronic device, a small part of which is surgically implanted in the cochlea to provide direct electrical stimulation of the cochlear nerve giving a sensation of hearing. Figures collected by the MRC Institute of Hearing Research show that at the end of the year 2000, more than 1,500 adults and more than 1,400 children had received implants in the UK. During the last six years about 1 million people in India have been found to suffer from such cochlear problems. One of the basic reasons giving rise to cochlear problems is that when there is a very severe to total sensorineural hearing loss it is usually because the hair cells in the cochlea are so damaged that they do not create the electrical signals, or enough of them, to make use of a hearing aid satisfactory. The cochlear nerve is usually intact. The cochlear implant is so named because it is implanted in the cochlea. The technique Veria, developed in Greece, is specially meant for children. Dr J. M. Hans has performed this surgery on six children and assures 100 per cent result in both pre-lingual-deafness from birth-and post lingual cases. In pre-lingual cases, the surgery should be done after the child reaches the age of 12 years. After that, the brain is no longer able to decode the messages it gets. The benefit of cochlear implants is immediate in post-lingual cases. This is mainly because the child understands the sounds but is unable to hear them. The RML Hospital, New Delhi, is the only hospital after DeSa’s Hospital Cochlear Implant Centre, Mumbai. The RML Hospital charges about Rs 5 lakh for this implant. Only surgeon in the country doing cochlear implantation by the Minimal Invasive Technique (Veria) and having done more than 25 cases successfully so far, Dr Hans says, “Cochlear implants are suitable for adults and children who have a severe to profound sensorineural deafness in both ears, and cannot gain significant benefits from conventional hearing aids. Around 25000 children with hearing problem are born everyday in this country, who can be treated using Veria technique. Research is also in progress to Indianise the product so as to lower the cost.” The awareness level about this technique among medical professional is around 20 per cent only. There is an urgent need to increase the awareness among both medical professionals as well as the masses. Countries like the US and Germany are much ahead than India in this regard. Media has a greater role to play for educating the masses. Reporting style in the health sector needs to change by incorporating such scientific developments that can really change the world for the disabled. Deliberating on the subject, they emphasised the fact that this surgery technique is extremely helpful in deaf and dumb children below the age of five years. Young children have special requirements, especially with regard to the assessment, selection and follow up procedures. Some cochlear implant users hear very well indeed. They can even use a telephone quite normally and go about their daily life reasonably well. “Best of all, most people find conversation easier and more relaxed because their hearing helps them to lip-read better even if they cannot understand speech through hearing alone. And assisted by the Veria technique, the implant is proving a boon for the deaf driving them from the world of silence to that of sound”, added Dr Hans.
Managing pain Chronic intractable pain is a major cause of suffering in a number of patients and leads to physical and emotional disability, if not treated appropriately. Cancer pain and naturopathic pain are few pain syndromes, which are often not responsive to conventional modalities including oral opioids administration. Advanced interventional pain management method, such as intrathecal opioid delivery system, provides excellent pain relief in such refractory pain syndromes. Having Cancer Can Hurt. While some people with cancer may have pain, others may not. Cancer pain may be caused by a number of things, including tumor growth, cancer treatments. Pain can also be caused by cancer treatment such as radiation and chemotherphy and scar tissue. Scar tissue resulting from surgery or cancer therapy may result in pain. Fortunately, no matter what the cause of the cancer pain, treatment is available that can help one live a more comfortable life. The most effective amongst them is APT (Advance Pain Therapy). APT Intrathecal or Advance Pain Therapy delivers pain medication directly to the fluid surrounding the spinal cord in small, precisely controlled doses using a pump that is surgically placed under the skin of the abdomen. “For people whose oral medications are no longer effective or cause uncomfortable side effects, clinical studies have shown improved pain relief and comfort with advanced pain therapy,” informed, Dr G. P. Dureja, Additional Professor, Pain Clinic, Department of Anaesthesiology, AIIMS, New Delhi. APT intrathecal uses a small pump that is surgically placed under the skin of the abdomen to deliver medication directly into the intrathecal space (where fluid flows around the spinal cord). The medication is delivered through a tiny, soft tube called a catheter that is also surgically placed. The pain signals travel through the spinal cord to the brain. The drug is delivered directly to where pain signals travel, APT Intrathecal offers dramatic pain control, with a tiny fraction of the dose that would be required with pills. This helps minimise side effects. Clinical studies show that in people who did not experience pain relief with high doses of oral medication, most got significant pain control with APT Intrathecal and were able to improve their activities of daily living. APT Intrathecal delivers lower doses of medication thus the side effects can be dramatically reduced. The therapy involves surgically placing a pump under the skin of the abdomen. The device is a round metal disk about 1 in (2.5 cm) thick and 3 in (7.5 cm) across. It weighs about 60z-(170 G). The catheter is a small, soft tube. One end is connected to the pump, and the other end is placed in the intrathecal space, where it delivers medication into the spinal fluid. This therapy is successfully done at AIIMS, Sir Gangaram Ram Hospital, and Spinal Injury Centre, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi.
Hope for epileptics In continuing with the quest to acquire the best technology available in the world for treatment of its patients, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital has added another feather in its cap. It has become the first hospital in the country to acquire a latest technique for treatment of patients of difficult to control epilepsy. Now, India will be the second country in whole of Asia, after China, to have acquired this important milestone. The technique known as Vagal Nerve Stimulation (VNS) was approved by US FDA in 1997 “for use as an adjunctive therapy in reducing the frequency of seizures in adults and adolescents 12 years of age with partial onset seizures, which are refractory to antiepileptic medications”. There are 22,000 patients worldwide who have been implanted with Vagal Nerve Stimulation, and is available in 40 countries across the world. Epilepsy constitutes a major public health problem both in developing and developed countries. The prevalence rate of epilepsy in India in reported to be 6-10/1000 population i.e. 6-10 million in India have epilepsy for a population of 1 billion. The number of new cases have an annual incidence of 50-100/1000 of population in India i.e. 5-10 lakhs per year are new cases with epilepsy. Of these 70-80 per cent of patients with newly diagnosed epilepsy will achieve remission and remaining 20-30 per cent will continue to have seizures. These are called medically refractory epilepsy. The number of cases with poor seizure control are 1-2 lakh per year. Recent advances have identified patients in this group i.e. about 4,000 to 20,000 patients who are suitable for surgery for epilepsy. However, the remaining number i.e. 96,000 to 1,80,000 patients continue to have disabling seizures in spite of all available anti-epileptic drugs. Vagal Nerve Stimulation is recommended for use as an adjunctive therapy in this sub-group of patients. Sir Ganga Ram Hospital will be the first centre in India where this therapy will be available. VNS therapy uses a medical device that sends small electrical pulses to the left vagus nerve in the neck. This nerve is a major link between the body and the brain. The vagus nerve delivers these electrical impulses to the brain where seizures are believed to start. VNS therapy helps to prevent the electrical irregularities that cause seizures. |
Kishan Ganj Gymkhana rout CWC New Delhi, December 20 Scores: CWC:
113 all out in 30 overs (Rajeev Vinayak 48, Mahender Pal Singh 3 for 18, Jagjeet Singh 3 for 5). Kishan Ganj: 114 for 1 in 20 overs (Mrinal Saini 62 n o, Mohd Atiq 24 n o). K G Colts defeated Shahdara Club by six wickets in an A-II Division match at the RSKP ground. Scores: Shahdara Sports:
101 all out in 29.4 overs (Arshad Masih 26, Rohit Saini 3 for 16, Gaurav Khurana 3 for 17, Abhay Tiwari 3 for 17). K G Colts:
102 for 4 in 21.2 overs (Rohit Saini 34 n o, Tarun Choudhary 24, Marudhar Shekhawat 2 for 25).
Bhagat Singh Cricket The Shaheed Bhagat Singh Inter-College Cricket Tournament will be held at the Bhagat Singh College ground from December 22. Jamia Milia will taken on Desh Bandhu College in the opening match.
Essex Farms enter final Essex Farms defeated Hughes Software by eight wickets in the third Eventus Cricket Tournament. Scores: Hughes Software: 95 all out (Tarun Makkar 27, Amit Khullar 17, Sanjiv Berry 2 for 14, Deepak Kumar 2 for 16, Ajay Kumar 2 for 6). Essex: 98 for 2 in 13.4 overs (Deepak Kumar 44 n o, Ajay Kumar 35, P. K. Pandita 1 for 9). |
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Manav Sthali hosts horse show
New Delhi, December 20 The day began with the welcome to the chief guest, Mr Amod Kanth, IPS, Joint Commissioner, and the distinguished guests, including Mr Alexander N. Palchev, Counsellor, Embassy of Russian Federation, and Senior Executive, Helpage India. Students performed amazing feats on horseback. From hurdle jumping to polo and even performing the Bharatanatyam on horseback. The audience witnessed a show that brought out the best in each horse rider and added to the overall success of the show. Appreciating the skills of the students, Mr Kanth said it was for the first time he had seen children perform with such confidence atop a horse. Fond of riding himself, he congratulated the school for encouraging the children in the sport. An awards ceremony was also held to felicitate the young riders and their teachers and trainers.  |
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Cavalry win in Pataudi Polo New Delhi, December 20 Omar Young (3 goals), Basheer Ali (3 goals) and Uday Kalaan were the scorers for ABN Amro while Lokendra scored a brace for Teachers. Tarun Sirohi scored three goals for Cavalry while J S Virk and Arul Gupta (2 goals) scored the other goals. Angad Kalaan and Adhiraj Singh (2) scored the goals for Signature. The final will be played on Sunday at 3 pm at the Jaipur Polo ground.
Shivaji Hockey The sixth Chatrapati Shivaji All-India Hockey Tournament for the Dhyan Chand Cup will be held at the Shivaji Stadium from December 30. Defending champions Punjab Police, Indian Oil, IHF (Juniors), Air India, Indian Airlines and Border Security Force have confirmed their participation. |
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Classic Resort lift Club Golf crown New Delhi, December 20 In a four-cornered contest, reigning champions Classic Resort beat back the challenge of Tollygune Club, Kolkata, Willingdon Club (Mumbai) and Eagleton Resort (Bangalore) to retain the title they won last year. Amit Luthra, G S Nanda, Puneet Suri, Neeraj Vadhera, Sanjay Suri and Vikram Mathur represented Classic. Shruti Khanna and Ashwin Malik gave the prizes. Tollygune Club scored a team total of 128, while Willingdon and Eagleton scored 116 and 109 respectively. |
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Feroz Ali in sight of title New Delhi, December 20 Rookie Ashok Kumar submitted a second successive card of four-under 68 for a 54-hole total of six-under 206 to share the second position along with SSP Chowrasia and Vijay Kumar. Defending champion Mukesh Kumar occupied the sole fifth position with a total of 208. Ajay Gupta, Amit Dube and Vikramjit Singh were tied for the sixth position at 210. Feroz Ali opened his account with a bogey on the fourth, missing a short par-putt. The Kolkata pro, who was leading by a stroke overnight, made birdies on the fifth and ninth with some good drives. He also had a birdie in between to be level par. In an exciting contest, Indrajit Bhalotia drove to 296.5 yards to emerge winner in the ‘longest drive’ contest. |
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Indo-Pak veterans’ cricket tie today New Delhi, December 20 The Indian team will be led by wicket-keeper and chairman of the senior national selection committee Syed Kirmani while Sadiq Mohammed will lead the Pakistani squad. National Thermal Power Corporation is sponsoring the three-match series. |
Licences of 23 brick kilns cancelled Sonepat, December 20 The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Balwan Singh, told mediapersons here today the officials of the department had not only checked the brick kilns but petrol pumps and LPG gas agencies for redressing the grievances of the customers. He disclosed that the action of the district administration has led to considerable decline in the public complaints. He also disclosed that officials of the department had checked as many as 102 fair price shops during the period under review in the district and cancelled the licences of eight ration shops for serious irregularities in the distribution of rationed articles. The department, he said, had also issued showcause notices to 179 ration shops, asking them to explain why their licences should not be cancelled for indulging in irregularities and malpractices in the distribution of rationed commodities. The DC also disclosed that the security deposits totalling Rs 38,400 had been confiscated on account of detection of irregularities during the checking of the fair price shops. Meanwhile, the Residents Welfare Association and the Sonepat Citizens Forum have expressed grave concern over the inefficient and unsatisfactory working of the Food and Supplies Department and demanded a high-level probe into the alleged diversion of rationed commodities, particularly wheat and kerosene, into the black market. Representatives of these organisations also demanded immediate transfers and suspension of those officials having a longer stay in the office of the DFSC and other offices to ensure an independent and impartial probe. They also urged the Chief Minister to appoint a senior officer for conducting a thorough probe into the racket and punish the erring officials of the department concerned. |
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An international workshop on alternative cochlear implant techniques was held at Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, here. The workshop was conducted by Dr J. M. Hans, (organising secretary) senior ENT specialist and Head of Unit, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, New Delhi.