CLARK FREEPORT – The first-ever postgraduate course in in liver and pancreatic disease management was held in time with the launching of the Liver and Pancreas Center of The Medical City-Clark (TMC-C) here on Thursday.
Dr. Karen Latorre, head of the Liver and Pancreas Center of TMC-C, said the activity was done in cooperation with the Central Luzon chapter of the Philippine Society of General Surgeons and the Philippine College of Surgeons.
The postgraduate course was titled: “Evolving Standards in Multidisciplinary Team Management of Liver, Pancreas, & Biliary multidisciplinary,” which aims to provide an up to date information on the current options, practices and guidelines in better care management of the liver, pancreas and biliary tract diseases.
Members of the multidisciplinary team were the resource speakers which made the event more informative and enlightening. The team is composed of Hepato-pancreato Surgeon, Interventional Radiologist, Medical Oncologist and Gastroenterologist.
The event served to make an update on the ideal healthcare management such as the “Tips and Tricks in Surgical Management of Pancreatic Cancer, Surgical Management of Liver Metastases, Liver Cancer in NAFLD: Current Knowledge and Implications for Clinical Practice, Liver Resection for Primary Liver Cancers, Surgical Management of Pancreatitis: When to and How?, The Spectrum of Disease from Acute to Chronic Pancreatitis, Interventional and Vascular Radiology in Hepatobiliary Disease, and Updates in Systemic Treatment for Liver and Pancreas Cancer.”
Participating medical practitioners specifi cally doctors of Internal Medicine, Family Medicine and General Surgeons were awarded 30 Continuing Medical Education (CME) units by the Philippine Medical Association.
Capping the event was the formal launching of the Liver and Pancreas Center of TMC-C.
“In a nutshell, what we aim to off er is a multi-disciplinary approach to the most common diseases of the liver and pancreas like liver cancer, liver tumors, pancreatic cancers and pancreatitis,” Latorre said on the services offered by the center.
She also said TMC-C is following a multi-disciplinary approach in managing the patients.
“We are advocating this approach on how a patient is manage in the context of a team and not just one physician because these problems are complex,” Latorre explained.
“It has been shown in international studies – especially with that of liver and pancreatic diseases – that these are best manage in the context of a team that is working together providing expertise at different levels,” she said further.
Latorre said TMC-C is the first center to be dedicated to liver and pancreas diseases following a multi-disciplinary approach.
“We are also part of the nationwide The Medical City network and we are also hoping to be at the forefront of being able to off er to suitable candidates in the region liver transplantation,” she added.
“As of now because we are just starting up. We are in the process of procuring the organs and we will be able to get the donors from here. But the transplant surgery will be done in coordination with the main medical facility,” she explained.
Latorre said, “apart from the network with transplantation, we also hope to differentiate ourselves from other centers because our staff is composed of five volume pancreas surgeon and who are properly trained in the subject.
On the cost, Latorre said, “we are striving to keep cost as low as possible but there is no Z package yet from PhilHealth and that is something we’d like to advocate but we are also trying to come up with packages from screening to surveillance and to management itself which is quite competitive or quite friendly but at par with the neighboring prices. But actually, the reality is it will still be towards Manila pricing,” she said.
“What we ‘d like to advocate is the excellence in the care,” she stressed.
