A common challenge gastroenterologists often admit to is the difficulty in accurately diagnosing the depth and spread of cancer in the digestive tract, especially in the oesophagus, stomach and colon region. Quite often, they point out that it becomes difficult to detect cancer cells by using traditional endoscopy.
On Sunday, widely-regarded gastroenterologist and specialist in endoscopic ultrasound Kenneth Chang shared some of his own techniques in identifying cancer of the pancreas and Gastro-Intestinal (GI) tract in an international symposium at Asian Institute of Gastroenterology (AIG).
“There are hi-tech diagnostic tools like Endoscopic Ultrasound (EUS) available worldwide. But the trick is to have a good technique to use these tools. We attach needles at the end of the EUS to pull out pancreatic tissue that could be cancerous. By traditional endoscopy, it’s not possible to perform such things,” said Dr. Chang, who teaches at the University of California-Irvine.
AIG chairman and MD D. Nageshwar Reddy felt it was very important to properly diagnose cancer.
“We have one 81-year-old patient who has a mass in his pancreas. Because of his age, it’s difficult to perform surgical exploration to find out whether the mass is cancerous or benign. In such situations, tools like EUS are imperative. Today, we managed to collect enough pancreatic tissue from the patient to diagnose that they were cancerous. Such techniques are an important update for gastroenterologists,” Dr. Reddy said.
While diagnostic tools and techniques are vital, Dr. Chang felt prevention was also very important.
“There is very little talk about preventive medicine in India and China. By the time cancer patients in China and India meet cancer specialists, it’s too late. Cancer screening of population and detection at the right time is important to save lives,” Dr. Chang said. Close to 150 gastroenterologists from India and UK, Burma, Italy and several other countries participated.
