KARACHI, Sept 3: Procedures involving minimal surgery are becoming popular among local doctors dealing with various types of liver carcinomas, said experts at a seminar held on Wednesday.

They said even though surgery provided the means for curative treatment, lack of adequate facilities coupled with the resultant complications explained why non-surgical procedures were gaining ground locally.

The occasion was the ‘Third National Symposium on Portal Hypertension and Liver Disease’, which was organized by the Aga Khan University and the Pakistan Society of Hepatology.

In his presentation entitled “Chemo-embolization in the Treatment of Liver Tumours”, Dr Mohammad Azeemuddin of the AKU said data compiled at his university had shown that in case of a palliative treatment known as PACE there was a median survival period of eight months.

“Globally there is a three- to four-fold increase in the use of the procedure for embolization,” said Dr Azeemuddin. He was of the view that early detection of liver tumours could be vital for a person’s survival.

“Late detection leads to all sorts of problems as stage-III patients and those having cirrhosis are usually excluded from the use of PACE technique.” Pregnant women were also excluded.

Dr Rashid Ahmed of the AKU, dwelling on the issue of “Radio-frequency Ablation Treatment in Liver Tumours,” said entire cells could be destroyed by heating them to 100 degrees C for between ten and 12 minutes.

He described the equipment used to kill the affected body cells. The procedure was done in the case of small tumours, when the patient was under conscious sedation.

In the case of large and medium tumours general anaesthesia was required, said Dr Ahmed. The combination treatments that are now being tested and tried around the globe were also discussed by him.

On the occasion, Dr Nasir Laeeq of the Ziauddin Medical University said the imaging techniques like MRI and endoscopic ultrasound played a vital role in the detection and diagnosis of cholangiocarcinoma.

He said carcinomas of the gall bladder and head of pancreas were fairly common in the country. He expressed the apprehension that a sizable proportion of cancers went undetected.

Earlier, in her presentation Dr Salma Halai Badruddin of the AKU said persons suffering from chronic liver disease should consume food rich in energy, protein and carbohydrates.

She said adults having acute hepatitis should consume food sufficient to maintain weight and spare body proteins. They may use milk, eggs and sugar as they are rich in protein as well as calories.