omlog: a blog by Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, India!

Balloon Dacryoplasty - a new treatment at Sankara Nethralaya

Balloon Dacryoplasty for congenital nasolacrimal duct block was performed at Sankara Nethralaya for the first time in India.  It was performed by Dr. E. Ravindra Mohan, Head, Department of Oculoplasty, Orbital Surgery and Trauma, Sankara Nethralaya on an eight year old boy from West Bengal with right nasolacrimal duct (Tear duct) block since birth.  The child had been suffering from continuous watering and discharge and was seriously troubled by his condition.  He had received previous treatment including the procedure of probing and syringing elsewhere.

The procedure involved passing a tube with a balloon at the end into the blocked tear duct and inflating it to open the duct well to permit free passage of tears, in a manner similar to coronary angioplasty procedure for dilating blocked blood vessels in the heart. 

The conventional treatment for his condition at the child’s age would be to perform a major operation called dacryocystorhinostomy.  In this particular case, another relatively new treatment modality was available to us in the form of Balloon Dacryoplasty.  An instrument set used for this procedure had been given to us as a generous gift some time back by Dr. Richard Saunders, Storms Eye Institute, South Carolina, USA, visiting paediatric Ophthalmologist on behalf of Orbis International.

The child was seen with complete relief of his symptoms.  Both son and father are extremely happy to have come to Sankara Nethralaya for his treatment.

Guest Lecture by Dr. Madhulika Dixit

Dr. Madhulika Dixit, Institute of Cardiovascular Physiology, J.W. Goethe University, Germany visited Sankara Nethralaya and delivered a talk on "Chronic insulin exposure uncovers the Motogenic Capacity of Nitric Oxide on aortic smooth muscle cells" on 6th April 2006.  Her talk focussed on molecular mechanisms related to the pathogenesis of vascular disease in hyperinsulinemic diabetes.

"Advanced Sterilisation Techniques & Infection Control practices"

Ms. Lysa Sagar (Nursing Supdt), and Mr. P. Suresh Kumar (Executive – Nursing -Quality Assurance & training) of Sankara Nethralaya visited Malaysia between 06.04.06 and 08.04.06. The program was arranged by Johnson & Johnson to share the best practices in “Advanced Sterilisation Techniques & Infection Control practices”, followed in few hospitals in Malaysia. Besides SN, delegates from Sri Ramachandra Medical College & Research Institute, Christian Medical College, Railway Hospital, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Apollo Hospitals and Lake Shore Hospital took part in the program.

The team visited Gleneagles Medical Intan Centre, Kuala Lumpur on Day 1. Gleneagles is a multi-specialty hospital about a decade old with 330 beds. The team was taken on a tour of the CSSD following which a face-to face meeting with Ms Irene Quah (Director of Nursing) was arranged. During the meeting, the practices of Gleneagles in CSSD were discussed in detail. The Gleneagles team described about their latest practices in surgical instrument cleaning, sterilization quality checks, etc. The visiting team from Sankara Nethralaya was specifically interested in the STERRARD plasma sterlisers and asked them to explain its uses and its benefits in an ophthalmic set up.

On day 2, the visiting team was taken to Subang Jaya Medical Centre, located in Kuala Lumpur; this hospital is also a multispecialty hospital about two decades old. The visiting team was again taken on a CSSD & OTtour followed by a meeting with the Subang Jaya team to discuss about their Quality checks Advanced Sterilisation Techniques and STERRARD plasma sterilizer.

On day 3, the team was taken to the local Johnson & Johnson head office and discussions were held regarding the Plasma sterilizers and how they help in low inventories and in prolonging the life of surgical instruments.

Sankara Nethralaya has a tie-up with The Tun Hussein Onn National Eye Hospital in Malaysia. Through this tie-up Sankara Nethralaya has shared its practices in IT and Outpatient appointments with Tun Hussein Eye Hospital. As a part of their visit Mrs Lysa Sagar and Mr Sureshkumar visited this hospital and shared their views on the practices followed in SN regarding Sterlisation techniques, Quality checks & Theatre management.

Guest Lecture by Dr. B. M. Hegde

Dr. B. M. Hegde, Retd., Vice-Chancellor, MAHE University, Manipal, visited Chennai on April 6^th and 7^th. Dr. Hegde, a world renowned Cardiologist, has written many books and published many articles on the importance of holistic view and spirituality in Medicine.

He addressed the students of the Elite School of Optometry on 6^th. He spoke on “Has science lost its heart? If so what to do?” His advice to the students was to “THINK” and to be “THINKERS” and not just want to pass the exams. He dwelt on the fact that much energy today in Science, is being focused on proposing a hypothesis and proving it right rather than finding the actual truth. On the following day he addressed the student of Madras Medical College. The topic of his talk was “Low tech bedside medicine is better than Hi tech diagnosis”. During this talk, he emphasized the need to talk with patients and listen to patients. The crux of his argument was that more time is being spent nowadays in doing hi tech diagnostics, but very less time is being spent by physicians actually talking with patients and understanding what their actual problem is.

The same evening he gave a talk to the employees of Sankara Nethralaya. The theme of his talk was on Disease and Wellness. Dr. Hegde stressed on the importance of a holistic approach to well being. This, he said, should be reflected in our minds, thoughts, the food we consume, the exercise and work we do.

Visitors

Dr. S.N. Reddy, Senior Regional Director, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and team visited Sankara Nethralaya on 12th April 2006.  They were taken on a hospital tour and also taken to the Teleophthalmology Department.

Dr. T. Srinivasa Rao, Chief Medical Officer and Dr. R. N. Ramakrishna, Ophthalmologist from Sathish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR(Sriharikota Space Centre) visited Sankara Nethralaya on 17th April 2006.  They were taken on  hospital tour including Teleophthalmology Department.

You just need a heart to help!

In today’s materialistic world, when most people say “I would just love to donate if only my salary was a little higher”, “I will start supporting this cause when I get a promotion”, Mr. S. Arunachalam proved that to help, to donate, you just need a large and kind heart.

The Sankara Nethralaya Rural Mobile Tele-ophthalmology unit visited Keezh Pennathur, a small village in Tiruvannamalai district north of Chennai. As usual the team went about their work in screening the people and arranging for tele-consultations for those patients who required it. Watching the activities of the team was Mr. Arunachalam who had come to the camp. He underwent examination and tele-consultation. While leaving, he praised the activities of the team and gave a donation of Rs.200 from his pension. He said that he felt it was his duty to give what he could for a good cause and therefore came forward to donate a part of his pension.

We salute Mr. Arunachalam who has proved that to give all that one needs is a heart!

Kudos for Sankara Nethralaya's Glaucoma Study

This is an editorial comment by Dr. Roy Wilson from USA in 'International Glaucoma Review (IGR)' on a paper titled "Prevalence of open-angle glaucoma in a Rural South Indian Population" published in Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science (IOVS) Dec 2005 from Chennai Glaucoma Study.  Even though he had to point out two lacunae in the methodology, these are his positive comments.

"This is a very good population-based study and important information is reported.  Of interest is that many population-based studies in other populations have reported that up to half of the study subjects diagnosed with glaucoma did not know that they had the disease.  In this rural Indian population, almost everyone (98.4%) was previously undiagnosed.  This finding suggests that efforts to screen for advanced glaucoma in this population may be particularly rewarding".