Symposium on colon cancer trains focus on early diagnosis

Colon cancer is treatable and curable and towards this end, early diagnosis was the key, said K. R. Palaniswamy, president of Tamil Nadu Gastroenterologist Trust and senior consultant – Gastroenterology, Apollo Hospitals, on Saturday (March 22, 2025). Speaking at a day-long symposium on the matter, he said the aim was to create awareness on early diagnosis of colon cancer.

At ‘Colon Cancer Symposium 2025’, experts discussed various aspects of the disease, its prevention, management and treatment.

N. Ram, Director, The Hindu Group Publishing Private Limited, delivered the inaugural address at the symposium, which was organised by the Tamil Nadu Gastroenterologist Trust and Apollo Hospitals.

A presentation on the colorectal study done by the Indian Society of Gastroenterology, Tamil Nadu chapter, was followed by a talk on foecal occult screening.

“This was followed by a live demonstration on screening to pick up colon cancer early using advanced techniques and resection of large polyp colonoscopically,” Dr. Palaniswamy said. The demonstration was done by international faculty — Michael Bourke, Director of Endoscopy, Westmead Hospital, Sydney, and Evelien Dekker, head of GI Oncology, University of Amsterdam.

He added that there was a session on Artificial Intelligence and colonoscopy by D. Nageshwar Reddy, chairman, Asian Institute of Gastroenterology, Hyderabad. There was another session on multidisciplinary management of advanced colon cancer, involving an oncologist, a radiotherapist, a surgeon and a gastroenterologist.

Col. S. Krishnan, formerly head of Gastroenterology, Apollo Hospitals, Shyam Varadarajulu, one of the course directors and president of Orlando Health Digestive Health Institute, R. K. Venkatasalam, Director, Medical Services, Apollo Hospitals, and N. Sathyabhama, Director, Medical Science, Apollo Hospitals took part in the inaugural session.

Published – March 22, 2025 10:43 pm IST