Department of Surgical Gastroenterology
The Department (established in 1989) is a 60-bed unit with 8 faculty members (consultants) and 15 senior residents (registrars). It runs 12 outpatient clinics (2,500 new patients and 6,000 follow up visits every year) and has 15 operating tables (9 AM – 5 PM) every week.
Clinical Activities
More than 30,000 patients have been admitted and more than 25,000 operations performed so far (2,000 admissions and 1,600 operations in 2013). The Department offers management of complicated problems including esophageal, gastric, colo-rectal, biliary and pancreatic cancers, portal hypertension, severe acute pancreatitis and pancreatic necrosis, chronic pancreatitis, ulcerative colitis, bile duct injuries, choledochal cysts, intestinal fistula, etc. Procedures performed include esophageal, colo-rectal, pancreatic and liver resections, biliary stricture repair, sphincter saving surgery for rectal cancer, ileal pouches for ulcerative colitis, surgery for portal hypertension, and minimally invasive surgery. The Department has initiated liver transplant activities also.
Databases
The Department has large experiences with gall bladder cancer (500 resections), repair of post-cholecystectomy benign biliary strictures (500 repairs), choledochal cysts (212 excisions), pancreatico-duodenectomy (387 resections), chronic pancreatitis (170 procedures), esophageal cancer (164 resections), colo-rectal cancer (406 resections) and portal hypertension (216 procedures). These computerized databases are maintained prospectively.
Teaching and Training
The MCh program (a three-year structured full time Senior Residency) started in 1991 - the Department is one of the 6 centers in India offering a MCh course in Surgical Gastroenterology. Teaching program includes daily departmental sessions (seminar, journal club, case discussion, etc), weekly inter-departmental sessions with Radiology, Radiotherapy, Pathology and Nuclear Medicine, weekly audit meetings, and monthly and annual review of statistics. 25 MCh students have passed out so far - they are occupying faculty positions in teaching departments and are working as consultant GI surgeons in the private sector in various parts of the country and even abroad (UK, USA, Australia). The Department has also trained more than 70 Senior Residents in Surgical Gastroenterology. The Department also offers one-year Post MCh Fellowship program in Biliary and Pancreatic Surgery. Many observers (including two from Sri Lanka and one each from USA, Malaysia and Bangladesh) have received training in the Department. The Department has been organising a Surgical Gastroenterology Week every year since 1991; participants (young faculty members and resident doctors) from all over the country interact with the departmental and invited faculty during this residential continuing education program. The Department organized the National Conference of Indian Association of Surgical Gastroenterology (IASG) in 1994 and again in 2006. It also organized the National Conference of Association of Colo-Rectal Surgeons of India (ACRSI) in 2005 and the Indian Chapter of International Hepato-pancreato-biliary Association (IHPBA) in 2007.
Areas of Research Gall bladder cancer (the Department is the principal investigator of a research project funded by the Department of Bio-technology, Govt. of India and a co-investigator with the University of Tsukuba, Japan in an international collaborative research project), pancreatic cancer, chronic calcific pancreatitis, bile duct injuries, biliary obstruction.
Publications- International
Guest Editorship (Hepato-Gastroenterology), Book Chapters (Bailliere’s Clinical Gastroenterology, UICC Monograph), Editorials (American Journal of Gastroenterology, British Journal of Surgery, Cancer Journal, International Journal of Clinical Practice), Review Articles (Asian Medical Journal, British Journal of Surgery, Postgraduate Medical Journal) and more than 100 Original Articles (Analytical Letters, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Surgery, British Journal of Surgery, Cancer, Cancer Journal, Clinical Oncology, Digestive Surgery, European Journal of Surgical Oncology, Hepato-Gastroenterology, International Journal of Molecular Medicine, Japanese Journal of Surgery, Journal of American College of Surgeons, Journal of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery,Journal of GI Surgery, Journal of Laparo-endoscopic Surgery, Journal of Pancreas, Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, Journal of Surgical Oncology, Hepato-Gastroenterology, HPB Surgery, Gut, Lipids, Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, Paediatric Surgery International, Pancreas, Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology and World Journal of Surgery)
In about half of these publications students/ residents are the first author.
Presentations - International Departmental faculty has visited several institutions all over the world and delivered lectures at these institutions and at various international conferences.
Honours - International
Commonwealth Fellowships (Four)
UICC-ICRETT Fellowships (Three)
Fulbright Fellowships (Two)
German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Fellowship
Surgical Oncology Fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh, USA
Fellowship of the University of Kurume, Japan
Academic Exchange Fellowship of the Association of Commonwealth Universities
PN Berry Educational Trust (UK) Scholarship
External Examinership at the Universiti Kebangsan Malaysia (UKM), Kuala Lumpur
Visiting Professorship at the King’s College Hospital, London, UK and the International Medical
University, Malaysia, Ethicon Visiting Professorship (UK)
Fellowships of Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (FRCSEd), American College of Surgeons
(FACS), American College of Gastroenterology (FACG) and International College of Surgeons (FICS)
Scholarship of the International College of Surgeons, American Society of Colo-Rectal Surgeons
Travel Grants of Japan Surgical Society (Six), International Federation of Surgical Colleges,
International Society of Surgery Foundation (ISSF) and World Congress of Transplantation Society, United European Gastroenterology Week, World Congress of Digestive Surgery
Visiting Professors
Department has had eminent surgeons from the UK, USA, Germany, Japan, Chile and Sri Lanka as Visiting Professors.
Goals for Future
Clinical Development of sub-specialties
Training Training of young surgeons from developing countries Twinning of the Department with academic surgical
units abroad
Research Gall bladder cancer - epidemiology, aetio-pathology, molecular biology, proteomics
Bile duct injuries – epidemiology and costs
Management of advanced GI cancers - biologic modulators, newer chemotherapeutic agents