Vydehi Institute of oncology World Cancer Day 2013

On World Cancer Day 2013, Vydehi Institute of Oncology organized a seminar and guest lectures by Dr Shilin Shukla, the director of CGRI, Ahmedabad and Dr Arun Gere, Consultant, Nuclear Medicine and Pet CT Center, Dharamshila Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Delhi. Dr Kavitha welcomed the guests while the program auspiciously began with a prayer. The program is inaugurated by Dr M.S. Ganesh lighting the lamp. He stated that VIMS will be releasing newsletters every month and sending to other hospitals and medical services, as part of their cancer services. Dr GuruMurthy, inaugurated the first newsletter that explains the advanced treatment methods in oncology by opening it for the audience.

Then Dr Shilin Shukla has delivered his enlightening speech on the new developments in Oncology. He discussed several things including the causes of cancer, genetic factors behind the cancer risk, and the need of proper treatment at the right time and the importance of precision medicine in cancer treatment. He opined that the common man’s perception towards radio therapy is negative but with obvious reason. Researches proved that 50 percent of patients who is prescribed to take the radio therapy treatment never came back to the hospital for further treatment because of this fear; only 20 percentages of people are taking up the treatment but they too leave it half way. It is only the remaining 25-30 percentages of people who complete the treatment successfully.

He said the fear of radio therapy treatment is obvious because most people are terrified by hearing about the side effects. He opined that precision medicine is the best way to treat a cancer patient. Precision medicine has many advantages such as improved efficacy, reduced toxicity, and minimum ill consequences. It is the next iteration of personalized medicine. Surgical excision, hormone therapy, targeted therapy, cytotoxic drug therapy are different kind of treatment methods that come under precision medicine. He concluded the speech by saying that Oncology as a medical division has great future and it is the best way to treat cancer patients in present scenario.

Dr Arun Gere gave a lecture at the program which discussed the advantages of PET CT scan and nuclear medicine. He explained about the positron emission tomography in depth and opined that PET CT is getting accepted in clinical practice slowly. The program concluded with an intercollegiate quiz and cultural program after the lectures.