KARACHI, Sep 6: Enough evidence exists that an appropriate use of radioactive iodine turns negligible the future risk of malignancy without impairing fertility or casting serious side effects on patients inflicted with thyroid cancers.

Prof Najamul Islam from the Aga Khan University Hospital, who presented his series of cases of thyroid cancers during the National Symposium on “Advancing the Frontiers of Endocrinology in Pakistan”, organised by the Pakistan Endocrine Society, identified papillary as the most common cancer.

He also mentioned that more than 100 patients with thyroid cancers were brought to him in a short span of time, re-emphasising presence of a palpable thyroid nodule which requires evaluation.

The most cost-effective diagnostic modality, he said was to introduce a needle biopsy in the nodule to establish the diagnosis. “This technique which is locally available also has a very high safety profile,” he said.

Dr Lubna Zubairi, Consultant Endocrinologist, discussing the local diagnostic and treatment strategies on hyperthyroidism, suggested use of drugs, iodine ablation and surgery as the treatment options for people with high activity of thyroid disease.

“Anybody with palpable thyroid gland should immediately consult his doctor in order to find out whether their thyroid gland is overactive and requires treatment,” Dr Lubna said.

Dr Khurram Shahid from the Liaquat National Hospital and Dr Abid Jamal, Consultant Surgeon with interest in Endocrine Surgery, presented data on hyper-parathyroidism, a gland responsible for the control of calcium.

The relevant patients might present with bone pains, renal stones, however, 75 to 80 per cent hold vague feature of hypertension, weakness, psychological problems, they said, adding that if remained undiagnosed, they may suffer from a risk on high incidence of cardiovascular disease.

According to Dr Abid, an experienced surgeon can salvage 95 per cent of the previously failed operation. He also highlighted the need for a minimally invasive surgery in these patients and showed his data of 11 such patients in which the surgery was performed and majority had a normal calcium following surgery.

Dr Khalid Imam from the LNH presented his paper on frequency on metabolic syndrome in patients with type-II diabetes.

Dr Yaqoob also presented his data on the metabolic syndrome in the Pakistani population, and commented that with the introduction of fast food chains in Pakistan, the incidence of metabolic syndrome had greatly increased, turning people increasingly vulnerable to diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular problems.

It was stressed that healthy eating habits had to be induced from early childhood to prevent outbreak of any epidemic condition.By treating obesity, we can reduce diabetes in up to 50 per cent of our affected population, the researchers said.

Prof Abdul Jabbar, President of the Pakistan Endocrine Society and a senior diabetologist associated with the Aga Khan University, in his presentation on “New Modalities of Diabetes Mellitus” said that Pakistan was exposed to dramatic increase in the prevalence of type-II diabetes among its people.

He said there was a large number of newer drugs to help control the ailment. Newer compounds, including Rimonabant, has led to a significant decline in HbA1c and a better control of diabetes.

The drug was said to be particularly suitable for patients with metabolic syndrome and central obesity.

There are a number of gut peptide (GLP-1) which have now been found to have a beneficial role in the control of diabetes, the speaker said.

A synthetic analogue is now available which is likely to improve control in patients with difficult diabetes and might spare the use of insulin in some of these patients.

President of the Society’s India chapter Dr Abdul Hameed Zargar of Srinagar presented his data on the “Gestational Diabetes”. The overall prevalence rate is 3.8 per cent in all women in South Asia, mainly India and Pakistan, he said, regretting that the two countries seemed to be one of the major culprit as increased weight with increased body mass index and a family history often result in diabetes during pregnancy.

Sixty per cent of these women require assistance, he said, mentioning that 95 per cent of the women who developed gestational diabetes had more than one risk factor.

It is essential that along with the treatment, most of these women should do moderate exercise to control their diabetes and protect themselves from related complications.—APP