That Health Rules

The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologist – Philippine Chapter will hold its Annual Convention on August 10 to 12, 2007 at Shangrila Mactan.

All doctors of all specialties are invited to join the affair as the organization has prepared a well balanced sessions for great learning!  As the one in charge of inviting foreign speakers it was pretty tough but finally there will be 6 foreign speakers– all world renowned in their own field of interest who will join us in the event.

• Dr Hossein Gharib of the Mayo Clinic , my friend and my great boss… a respected expert in the field of Thyroid Diseases ,who is also presently the President Elect of the American College of Endocrinology will talk of  FAQ on Thyroid Diseases and another symposium on Controversies of Thyroid Cancer.
• DR Steven Petak who is the Past President of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologist will talk on Updates on Osteoporosis as well as Vitamin D: Bone and Beyond.
• Dr James Gavin of Emory University will talk about The new Drug for Diabetes called Byetta and a plenary on Diabetes in Pregnancy
• Dr Cecil Lansang of California who will talk and teach participants on the Thyroid Ultrasonography;
• Dr Melvin Tan from the National University of Singapore will talk on Diabetes and Hypertension
• Dr JJ Mukherjee also from the National University of Singapore will talk on Updates in Endocrine Hypertension and Male Hypogonadism

Prominent Local Speakers will also be present:

• Dr Augusto Litonjua of Makati Medical Center who will talk on the New Incretins and GLP1 drugs for Diabetes,
• Dr Ricardo Fernando of ISDF on Advances in Diabetes Care,
• DR Estrelle Lopez of UST on Nutrition and Diabetes and
• Dr Gerry H Tan of Cebu Doctors’ University will talk on The Proper Use of Insulin in Diabetes.

Registration will be FREE for the Residents in Training from all hospitals.  For Consultants, it will be a nominal fee of only P500 for the 3 day affair.  Registration will start at 8:00 to 11:00AM on Friday Aug 10 with the First Luncheon Symposium on Insulin Therapy at 11:30AM to 1:30 PM. There will also be exhibits from our pharmaceutical partners.

This is an opportunity for fellow Cebuano Doctors and neighboring cities and provinces to take part in this grand affair where you will have the chance to ask your personal questions regarding your patients with the experts in the field of Endocrinology.

For questions…please call Dr Gerry H Tan at 032-412-4803 and Dr Marsha Tolentino at 032-412-2767.

Or you can write to me in this website for any inquiries….

My phone never stopped ringing …literally!  Apparently the NEJM publication caught the media in a frenzy mood!  The headline noting the increased risk of heart attack with the use of Avandia brought about the public scare and the panic.   This is one case to point where everything written in a well respected journal should be studied, scrutinized and reviewed before offering to the media to be sensationalized!

The real inside story however was never told as to why there was a need to rush the publication coupled with a sensationalized editorial.  Below is The  Wall Street Journal Commentary which I want to share with the readers and my patients as well…. 

…As medical information is exploding and becoming more accessible, all of us, particularly physicians, need objective sources to interpret data and present a balanced view. Unfortunately, major medical journals that should be filling this role often put more weight on pushing political agendas.

Their editorial prejudice has left a troubling void for rigorous and unbiased arbiters of medical evidence who can guide sound medical practice decisions.  The behavior of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) is a case in   point, when it rushed onto its Web site a limited and flawed analysis of safety concerns around the diabetes drug Avandia. The publication was timed to get ahead of the Food and Drug Administration’s more careful evaluation of the same issues. The journal seemed bent on beating the FDA to the punch. The goal? Painting the FDA as impotent, in order to argue for legislation winding through Congress that would increase regulatory hurdles for drug approvals. The journal’s motives were made bare by its own editorial on the matter.    

While there are “questions” whether Avandia is associated with certain heart risks — so far unsupported by more rigorous, randomized studies   and  extensive review by the FDA and other authorities around the world — the NEJM study doesn’t add much new insight into those issues because of its own limitations.   But you wouldn’t know that from the way the Journal hyped its analysis to the media or opined about the study’s significance. These facts weren’t lost on clinicians and even NEJMs competitors. The Lancet,  NEJM’s British sister-publication, said of the study, “Alarmist headlines and confident declarations help nobody.” A top American medical researcher  told WebMD, “I can’t help but wonder if the NEJM is functioning more like the mainstream press than a scientific journal at this point.”
      
 The paper which re-analyzed the results of 42 earlier studies of the drug found on the Internet, revealed that Avandia might cause a small increase in the absolute risk of a heart attack. But the study that the authors did, called a”meta-analysis” because it aggregates results from lots of studies to generate a larger sample, contained a number of serious limitations. 

Among other things, the authors of the NEJM study based their conclusions that Avandia caused a higher heart risk on just a handful of cardiac events, none of which they could go back and verify, because, unlike the  FDA, the authors didn’t have access to confidential patient records. 

Dr Goetlleib who wrote the commentary further noted that….Absent was any discussion by NEJM of the drug’s benefits, or advice  from  diabetes experts on how doctors should counsel their patients based on the  information.

So Better Be informed Before We Judge!