Dr Sun Siyu, one of Asia’s leading gastro endocrinologists from China

by Shalet Jimmy

published in The New Indian Express

August 26, 2013

photo courtesy : Mithun Vinod

With no scar and considerably less complications, Gastrointestinal endoscopic surgery can be used to treat intestinal cancer. Here the diagnosis and surgery are done simultaneously. But the method is yet to gain momentum in the country.

Dr Sun Siyu, one of Asia’s leading gastro endocrinologists, from China said that his country has woken up to the advantages of the surgery,but in India it is yet to pick up due to lack of awareness. He was in Kochi to participate in the two day workshop conducted by the Gastroenterology department of the Medical Trust Hospital.

The anomaly should be detected at an early stage for the surgery to be successful. “It is of scant help in advanced stages. To put it simply, an instrument with a camera is inserted through natural orifices (openings) of the body. If a growth is diagnosed in the intestinal tract, it is removed at once. It leaves no scar”, he said.

“Some of  complications that can arise from the surgery are bleeding, stenosis - stricture of Gastro Intestinal (GI) tract - and perforation. But these can be treated as soon as they arise”, he says. One of the reasons why the surgery is yet to catch up here is the absence of experts. “Since it deals with the inner walls of the body, meticulous study of the technique is necessary.”

Dr Siyu said that since the technology is only eight years old, government intervention is pertinent in luring the public to undertake screenings. “Cancer rate is high in India and China. Early stage detection happens in China as the government allots funds for screening of cancer. But in India, owing to less awareness and no government support, detection happens at an advanced stage”, he says. Besides, in China, information regarding the updates in the health sector is available on the government’s website.

Dr Siyu pointed out that tremendous effort has to be put in to make this enterprise successful. “I conduct 50,000 screenings a year, 5000 EUS (Endoscopic Ultrasound), more than 1000 Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) and many more. I work five days a week with 14 hours a day. I travel all through China and across the globe on Saturday and Sunday to give training programmes on this new system. I never had a vacation in many years. This is the kind of work we have to put in to make this method a huge success”, he concluded.