Lanka joins the MICS club
Cardiothoracic Surgeon Dr. Vivek Gupta who launched minimally-invasive surgery to bypass several blocks in heart vessels at a private hospital in Colombo discusses its advantages with Kumudini Hettiarachchi Working in a deep well, with “low visibility and hardly any space to manoeuvre” is what the procedure is compared to. It has, however, nothing to do [...]
HPV vaccine: Preventing cervical cancer
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a common sexually transmitted virus all over the world. Most HPV infections don’t cause any symptoms, and go away on their own. But HPV is important mainly because it can cause cervical cancer in women. Every year in Sri Lanka about 1,325 women die of cervical cancer. It is the second [...]
Understanding liver transplantation
A liver transplant involves removing the patient’s own diseased (“native”) liver at surgery and replacing it with a liver from another person. This is commonly referred to in medical literature as Orthotopic Liver Transplant (OLT). Generally, the patient (“recipient”) receives a whole liver but on occasion may receive only a portion of the donor liver. [...]
Menopause – Is it a problem?
In Sri Lanka, a woman is believed to reach menopause when her periods cease for more than six months and she is over 40 years of age. Many women are happy when their periods cease. However there are many changes in their body due to the hormonal changes which occur with the change in the [...]
ECG: What it detects and what it doesn’t
In this latest edition of our test series, Prof. Shyam Fernando, a consultant physician, explains the workings of an electrocardiogram or ECG. “An ECG is done mainly to find the cause of chest pain or palpitation,” explains Prof. Shyam. “It is also done as a routine check for insurance, visa applications and before surgery.” Considering [...]
Lessons from Madrid
The 16th World Congress of Psychiatry was held in Madrid, Spain from September 14 to 18 this year. Held every two years it is the largest gathering of mental health professionals from around the world. This time it was attended by nearly 10,000 delegates. A few psychiatrists from Sri Lanka including myself attended the conference. [...]