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TIMEBOMB in a bottle
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15TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
MEDICAL NOTES
Are YOU suffering with this stomach disorder? TENS of thousands of people across the region could be suffering from a serious stomach disorder – and don’t know about it. Coeliac disease causes the body’s immune system to react to gluten found in food, making the body attack itself resulting in a lifetime of pain and discomfort. Diagnosing the condition has been extremely difficult with the average time being about 13 years! But a new and simple blood test is now available so that some adults over 55 can be diagnosed almost immediately, without first having to have an endoscopy and biopsy. The move follows new interim guidance from the British Society of Gastroenterology, pending the publication of its new Coeliac Guidelines in 2021. Hilary Croft, chief executive of Coeliac UK, said: “This will enable a greater number of people to gain a faster diagnosis, without the need to wait for an endoscopy at the hospital. “Getting an accurate diagnosis of coeliac disease means keeping gluten in the diet throughout the testing process – a difficult feat when waiting lists are long and people feel unwell. “These guidelines are good news for those who meet the criteria for a no-biopsy diagnosis, who will be able to start to feel better sooner on a gluten-free diet, the only treatment for coeliac disease. “However, those that do not meet the criteria are likely to face long waiting times as endoscopy services begin a phased return. Access to blood tests may still be limited at the moment, so we encourage people to speak with their GP if they are experiencing symptoms.” To make it easier to understand if symptoms are possibly due to coeliac disease and discuss further testing with your GP, Coeliac UK has developed a self-assessment test to make it easier to take that first step to diagnosis. n Go to www.isitcoeliacdisease.org.uk to take the online assessment. n Coeliac UK Helpline: 0333 332 2033
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EALTH experts are warning that the rate of drinkrelated hospital admissions is now “a ticking timebomb ready to explode”.
A new NHS report reveals that in 2018 1.3 million people were admitted to hospital due to alcohol – 7.4% of all hospital admissions across the country. The numbers have risen by 60% in the last decade. Almost half of those admitted (47%) were aged between 55 and 74 and just under two thirds were male. Nuno Albuquerque, at alcohol addiction treatment experts UKAT, said: “This country’s problem with alcohol is a ticking timebomb about to explode. The NHS is crippling under pressures directly attributable to the misuse of alcohol. “What will it take to make the Government sit up, listen and take effective action? Why do we still not have an alcohol-specific strategy, as promised back in 2018? It is a huge problem and one that needs immediately addressing as a matter of urgency.” The biggest reason for admission into hospital was for cardiovascular disease, accounting for 645,070 (51%) of all admissions.
A further 17% (220,730) of all admissions were for mental and behavioural disorders due to alcohol, conditions which include acute intoxication, harmful use of alcohol, dependence to alcohol and withdrawal from alcohol. Other conditions for hospital admission due to alcohol include breast cancer, alcohol poisoning, and alcoholic liver disease. Almost 5,700 people died due to drink – 2% lower than in 2017 but a 7% rise in 10 years. The NHS report also shows 170,000 prescribed drugs were issued in 2018, 27% more than in 2008. Mr Albuquerque added: “The NHS is being forced into a corner when it comes to tackling alcohol misuse. GP’s prescribing drugs like Acamprosate Calcium, Disulfiram and Nalmefene will only pause the problem, not solve it. “Taking this sticky-plaster approach is also a false economy, costing the NHS an eye-watering £4.32m last year alone.” n For help and support with alcohol, visit www.ukat.co.uk/alcohol/v7/
Make time to love your liver
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ALF OF all liver disease patients had no signs or symptoms before their diagnosis, a new study reveals.
Three top tips
THE British Liver Trust’s three simple steps to Love Your Liver back to health: n Drink within recommended limits and have three consecutive days off alcohol every week. n Maintain a healthy weight by eating well and taking more exercise. n Know the risk factors for viral hepatitis and get tested or vaccinated if at risk. To find out if you are at risk visit www.britishlivertrust.org.uk/screener
The largest ever survey of UK liver patients – also showed that a quarter were diagnosed at a very late stage when there were very few options for treatment and intervention. One in five had been dismissed or sent home with medication without further investigation when they first visited their GP. The survey also reveals: n A third of patients were diagnosed after being tested for another condition. n Tiredness, abdominal pain and itching were the most common symptoms experienced by half of the respondents. n More than half felt they were given not enough or no information upon diagnosis. n 22% waited more than six months before being
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referred to a specialist. n Evidence shows the earlier a patient is diagnosed, the greater their chance of survival: 90% of liver disease is preventable. Professor Stephen Ryder, consultant at Nottingham University NHS Trust, said: “We have equipped GPs with a very poor test for diagnosing liver disease – Liver Function Tests (liver enzymes). Repeat testing of liver enzymes just wastes NHS money and does not
provide early diagnosis. “We now have excellent tests for liver scarring, the process which matters in the liver, and those tests should now be universal in primary care.” Pamela Healy, chief executive, British Liver Trust, said: “The UK is facing a liver disease crisis. Liver problems often develop silently as patients do not tend to experience symptoms until the disease has progressed.”
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‘Kinder’ ways to treat kids’ cancers
RESEARCHERS have made an important breakthrough that could lead to kinder treatments for children with bone cancer, and save lives. Current treatment is gruelling, with outdated chemotherapy cocktails and limb amputation. The five-year survival rate is poor at just 42% – largely because of how rapidly bone cancer spreads to the lungs. New research identifies a set of key genes that drive bone cancer spread to the lungs in patients. In further experiments in mice with engineered human bone cancer cells that lack these key genes, the cancer cannot spread to the lungs. The research was led by Dr Darrell Green, from the University of East Anglia’s Norwich Medical School and Dr Katie Finegan from the University of Manchester. Dr Green said: “Primary bone cancer is the third most common solid childhood cancer, after brain and kidney, with around 52,000 new cases every year worldwide. “These findings are really important because not only do we now have a gene pathway associated with metastasis, we know that removing this gene pathway actually stops cancer spread in a live animal. “And we also know how and why this is happening through hijacking the immune system. “The next step already gearing up to take place is to silence this pathway in treatment form. “If these findings are effective in clinical trials, it would no doubt save lives and improve quality of life because the treatment should be much kinder compared to the gruelling chemotherapy and life-changing limb amputation that patients receive today.”
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