Tawam Hospital holds First Surgical Symposium

The symposium is the first of three courses to be held in the UAE in 2008 and is inline with Tawam Hospital's aim to ensure the streamlining of standardized cancer care in the UAE and keeping surgeons informed with the latest innovations in the field.

A key area of the conference's focus will bring forward new procedures and surgical techniques applied to the treatment of cancer patients. Commenting on the symposium, Dr. Jack Borders, CMO of Tawam Hospital, said: 'Less than two weeks ago, we hosted the first Annual Asia & Middle East National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines in oncology symposium in AL Ain. Together with our colleagues from Johns Hopkins Medicine, we discussed targeted cancer therapies and highlighted the need for guidelines and the facilitation of their application across the GCC. The event was a great success and the first step towards providing better services to our patients. This surgical oncology symposium follows suit.'

The symposium covered an array of topics with a particular focus on the Liver; Prof. Michael Choti discussed Liver tumor treatment options, Prof. Hussein Elsisi focused on treatments of low rectal carcinomas and surgery on cirrhotic patients, while Dr. Farouk Safi highlighted liver transplants for malignant disease and mentioned his experience at Tawam with regard to liver surgeries and Dr. Sayed Elisah talked about low rectal surgeries performed at Tawam Hospital.

Prof. Micheal Choti, Professor of Surgery at Johns Hopkins Medicine and Chief of Surgical Oncology Department in Baltimore, who was also a key international speaker at the first Surgical Oncology Symposium, said: 'It is with great pleasure that I am here to represent Johns Hopkins Medicine, and share my knowledge and expertise with our team at Tawam. We carry out training sessions with Tawam and transmit live feeds of our operations on a regular basis, nevertheless it is always better to meet and have face-to-face interactions in order to create better lines of communication and further understand the needs and requirements of our patients. This symposium truly demonstrates our, Tawam and Johns Hopkins Medicine, determination for excellence in surgical procedures.'

'I am delighted to welcome Prof. Choti and all the participants to the symposium. At Tawam we strive to raise the barrier in surgical techniques. We are renowned for our best practices and levels of service and these are a direct result of the hospital's commitment to the intensive training and the dedication of our staff in achieving perfection and excellence. Our close partnership with Johns Hopkins Medicine is another example of this as well as this series of symposiums,' added Dr. Sayed Elsiah, Senior Consultant of Surgical Oncology and Chief of Surgical Oncology at Tawam Hospital.

Other speakers included Prof. Farouk Safi, Senior Consultant at Tawam Hospital, UAE University Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences and a member of the Surgical Oncology Department, Prof. Hussein Elsisis, Senior Consultant Khalifa Hospital, Assistant Professor Gastroenterology &Transplant Hepatology at Mount Sinai Hospital (NY, USA) and Dr. Salem Awaad. F.R.C.P Consultant Gastroentrology Hepatology at Mafraq Hospital.