Workshop on cancer treatment

CHENNAI: BS Abdur Rahman University, Sri Ramachandra University and Purdue University, USA, are jointly organising an international workshop on ‘Electro-Chemo-Therapy for Effective Cancer Treatment’ on July 27 and 28. Fifteen eminent researchers and medical practitioners from foreign countries are expected to deliver lectures. The workshop would be highlighting an alternative therapy for cancer treatment.“Death toll due to cancer is increasing in recent years,” said Dr P Kanniappan, Vice Chancellor, BS Abdur Rahman University. “A statistical data shows that so far 10 million people have died of cancer. A majority of cancer deaths occur in underdeveloped and developing countries. In India, around 2.5 crore people are estimated to be cancer affected. So, some advanced research is needed in order to treat cancer effectively. In that sense, the workshop will be a crucial one,” he added.Three universities are together engaged in a research project to find an alternative treatment for cancer. At present, treatments available are chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy and surgery. All these treatments have its own side effects, such as hair loss, nausea, vomiting.“In future, electrochemotherapy will be an effective way to treat cancer without side effects. We are doing research on this,” said Dr S Rangaswami, Vice Chancellor, Sri Ramachandra University. “Until now, the first phase of research is over. Second phase is animal testing and the third phase will include human samples. The principal mechanism of this therapy is electroporation of cells in tumours, which is a technique that improves the efficiency of drug delivery,” he explained. The first day of workshop will be held at BS Abdur Rahman University and the second day at Sri Ramachandra University.“Our research is primarily focusing on how to kill cancer cells without disturbing normal cells,” said Dr Anita Ramesh, Professor and Head of Oncology, Sri Ramachandra University. “By electroporation technique, we could inject drugs precisely to cells affected. It may take seven years to get the final outcome of our ongoing research. When the outcome is positive, this new treatment will be more efficient to treat skin and breast cancer. At this level, our research is not dealing with blood cancer. Because, blood cancer is a different one, that requires another way of treatment,” she added.