By 121 News
Chandigarh 25th September:- The Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Unit, APC, PGIMER, Chandigarh along with the Thalassaemic Children Welfare Association, Chandigarh organized a one day CME today with the theme of "Thalassaemia: Essentials and More". The CME was attended by 130 doctors from the tricity, Punjab, Haryana & Delhi and around 70 parents/patients of thalassemics.
The meeting deliberated upon the management practices in Thalassemia, which is an inherited disorder and afflicts about 10,000 children in India every year, concentrating on holistic management which includes regular blood transfusions and chelation therapy. Experts from Delhi and Chandigarh ( Dr VK Khanna from Ganga Ram Hospital, Dr J Chandra from Kalwati Saran, Dr Gomber from Guru Teg bahadur Hospital, Dr Amita Mahajan from Apollo Hospital along with Dr Amita Trehan & Dr Deepak Bansal from PGIMER ) highlighted the need for regular adequate transfusions at 20-25 days interval and proper chelation therapy for the disease. Body iron overload monitoring with the help of MRI was deliberated upon. As this is a preventable disease screening before and during pregnancy was discussed in detail. Dr Prateek Bhatia highlighted the methods by which prenatal diagnosis of the disease is possible to prevent the birth of a baby afflicted with a disease which is challenging to look after and cure. In addition, a session was devoted to stem cell transplant where the frequently asked questions in transplant, when and how to do a transplant was discussed by Dr Alka Khadwal from PGIMER and Dr Joseph John from CMC, Ludhiana. A session on transfusion medicine was moderated by Prof Neelam Marwaha where safe transfusion practices and the difficulties in transfusion were highlighted, as children needing regular transfusions are prone to multiple problems especially allo-immunisation. Using washed red cells and leukodepleted blood for the same was discoursed in detail. Dr Muralidharan moderated a panel discussion highlighting the Endocrine problems in Thalassemics wherein fertility issues, short stature, thyroid problems and diabetes, problems frequently faced were discussed. The last session focused on psychological issues in Thalassemics with a patient expressing her thoughts on the subject. All experts expressed the need for prevention of the disease and establishment of screening measures. The simplest method in our country is screening during early pregnancy. In case a lady is a carrier of the disease, the spouse should be screened to enable timely prenatal testing for the fetus. Also, cascade screening (relatives of an affected child) should be practiced.
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