Healthcare professionals share expertise at WCM-Q Grand Rounds

Three leading healthcare experts gave individual presentations on paediatric imaging, polycystic ovary syndrome and the impact of gut bacteria on human health in the latest instalments of Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q)'s Grand Rounds series.

Grand Rounds brought the experts for a special mini-series of presentations. The first featured Dr Graham Buirski, section head of MusculoSkeletal Imaging in the Radiology Department of Sidra Medical and Research Center, who gave a presentation titled "Paediatric Imaging – What Test Do I Order?"Dr Buirski explained that physicians must carefully balance the benefit of ordering a test against the potential harm to the patient. He said, “Unfortunately, not all tests are 100% free of harm, so we have to think about this every time we order a test. For example, some research has suggested that people who have a lot of CT scans as children are at greater risk of leukaemia and brain tumours. Now the risk might be small but we still have to think very, very carefully about the tests we order and make certain that they are in the patient’s very best interests.”The second presentation was given by Dr James D Lewis, professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania, and was titled "Modern Life at a Crossroad: The Intersection of Diet, the Gut Microbiome, Inflammation and Cancer". Dr Lewis explained that the human gut is home to around 100tn bacteria cells, which is approximately 10 times the total number of cells that make up the human body. Dr Lewis said, “When you have a meal, you are feeding not only yourself but also those microorganisms that are living in your gut and they are going to take what you consume and turn it into other small molecules that will be circulating in your blood. This is why diet appears to be linked to inflammation, metabolic syndrome and cancer risk.”Dr John E Nestler, William Branch Porter professor of medicine and chair of the Department of Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, discussed "Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) and the Risk for Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease".PCOS is characterised by imbalance in a woman’s levels of the hormones estrogen and progesterone. This causes the growth of benign cysts on the ovaries, weight gain, skin problems, abnormal hair growth and fertility problems.