• April 2008 : Head and neck cancers: towards new organ-preserving treatments
• April 2008 : Two renowned surgeons, honoris causa doctors of UCL

 

 

HEAD AND NECK CANCERS: TOWARDS NEW ORGAN-PRESERVING TREATMENTS

In recent years, the concept of “organ preservation” has altered the treatment of advanced head and neck cancers. Until quite recently, surgery followed by radiotherapy was most commonly applied to these cancers, and the surgery was often drastic, involving the removal of entire organs.
Now, however, patients can benefit from new treatments that combine chemotherapy with radiotherapy and usually do not need major surgery. These new methods give results similar to those of surgery, but carry the indisputable benefit of preserving organs.
In addition, the use of targeted therapy, that is, drugs that act specifically on certain tumour growth mechanisms in combination with radiotherapy, sometimes increases efficiency of radiotherapy.

On the occasion of his promotion to the title of
Honoris Causa Doctor of the UCL Health Sciences Sector,
Professor Jatin P. Shah, a world authority on face and neck surgery,
will give a conference on Wednesday 23 April on the theme of
“Exploiting biology in contemporary management of cancer of the Thyroid Gland”.

Professor Shah is a graduate of the MS University of Baroda, India. He continued his training in oncological surgery and neck and facial surgery at the prestigious Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York, where he is currently head of the Neck and Face Surgery Department. His thesis on neck and face surgery and oncology was hailed by the University of London as the best publication in the field of ear, nose and throat medicine in the past five years. Professor Shah is an honorary member of numerous neck and face surgery departments in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and Latin America.
The conference will be held at 1730 on 23 April in Auditoire Maisin, 51 Avenue Mounier, 1200 Brussels. Info (02) 764.41.28.

TWO  RENOWNED SURGEONS, HONOROS CAUSA DOCTORS OF UCL

 
Every two years, the UCL Faculty of Medicine confers the title of Honoris Causa Doctor on figures of importance in the medical world working on the same theme. This year, it has chosen the subject “the body, scientific subject and work of art” to honour surgeons Bernard Devauchelle et Jatin P. Shah at the UCL Brussels site on 22 April next.
 
Named clinician of the year in 2006 by the celebrated medical magazine The Lancet, French surgeon Bernard Devauchelle achieved international fame when in November 2005 he carried out the first ever face transplant performed anywhere in the world.
As head of the jaw and facial surgery department at CHU Amiens, he became interested at a very early stage in the potential of microsurgery transplants in restorative facial surgery. He soon became a leading expert in France, perfecting numerous innovative surgical techniques to reconstruct the form, function and skeletal foundations of the face all at the same time.
                                                   
A world authority in the field of neck and face surgery, Professor Jatin P. Shah is a graduate of MS University of Baroda, India. He continued his training in oncological surgery and neck and face surgery at the prestigious Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York, where he currently heads the Neck and Face Surgery Department. His thesis on neck and face surgery and oncology was hailed by the University of London as the best publication in the field of ear, nose and throat medicine in the past five years.
Professor Shah is an honorary member of numerous neck and face surgery departments in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and Latin America.