Health Adda

A fracture of the hip bone can be the proverbial last straw for an elderly person. We saw a friend’s mother go through it all. She used to be petite and frail and a hump (bent spine). One day she fell in the bathroom, broke her hip and became bedridden. Orthopedicians and her children, two of who were doctors, felt scared to subject the 75 year old to surgery. She therefore lay in bed for 7 long years, fed and bathed by domestic aids. She suffered the extra misery and humiliation of depending on them for the bed pan as she could not make it to the toilet. In spite of all possible care that the family could provide, she developed bed sores. Her recent death was perceived by many as liberation from her painful hopeless state. Each year, there are an estimated 500,000 spinal fractures, 300,000 hip fractures, 200,000 broken wrists, and 300,000 fractures of other bones.  About 80% of these fractures occur from relatively minor falls or accidents, and are caused by osteoporosis. The st...

After the accident in the nuclear energy plant in Fukushima, and the radiation leak that a nation as developed as Japan is finding helpless to contain, the uncomfortable question posing itself in our minds is “What if it had happened in India?” While nuclear energy is “clean” and has helped meet burgeoning energy demands of many countries, its accidental leak from reactors has been a major health concern. The world had learnt  the hard way from Japan after the atom bombs were dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Nausea, vomiting, weakness, fatigue, bleeding gums and diarrhea occured soon after exposure to raditaion. Later effects included development of catarct and cancers of the thyroid gland, lungs, breast and blood. Young children exposed around birth developed leukemias and died often in their teens. Several accidents have occured in nuclear power plants across the world, the worst being in Chernobyl (near Ukraine) in 1986. The radiation that leaked was not just huge but...

Why a patient feels comfortable with one doctor and not with another depends on whether the attitudes and expectations of the two match well. In the conventional “Paternalistic attitude that doctors have sported over the centuries, it is he who decided what was best for the patient and ordered only one line of treatment that the patient  followed  unquestioningly and faithfully. Assuming a father-like role, he assessed his patient’s need, tolerance and affordabilility and “told” him what to do. Many patients still prefer this simple apprach and ask “Doctor, please tell me what I should do”. This “paternalistic” attitude prevailed when treatments were few or none, and the doctor-patient relationship was hinged on blind faith. In present times, when treatment options are exploding and patient’s expectations escalating to dizzy heights, this appraoch is heading towards obsolescence. In the current age of “Cafeteria Appraoch” doctors are required to place all the treatment option...

“Fatty Liver” that commonly finds mention in an ultrasound examination report and is often passed off as an incidental finding, may not be innocuous after all, suggest recent studies in reputed medical journals.  Japanese and European scientists have noted a four-fold increase in risk of heart disease in these patients compared to those of the same age and sex who had normal livers. Using sophisticated techniques, doctors have found the wall of arteries to be thicker and the lumen narrower, causing reduced flow of blood to their heart muscles and brains, in these patients. Their findings support the clinical observation that those with excess fat in their livers are more vulnerable and die earlier from heart problems. The appearance of a “bright” and swollen liver suggesting excess fat deposition is a common finding on ultrasound examination. While it is commonly seen in drinkers, it is often seen in tee-totallers too, and is referred to as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease or NAF...