Cebuano anesthesiologist heads Singapore delegation to Manila

CEBU, Philippines - A team of 5 anesthesiology specialists from Alexandra Hospital in Singapore recently conducted a workshop on “Ultrasound-Guided Regional Anesthesia” at the Philippine General Hospital from November 11 to 14, 2009. 

The team consisted of Drs. Joselo Macachor (from Cebu), Naville Chia, David Tan, Uma Shridhar Iyer and Bin Wern Hsien, with Dr. Penafrancia Cano, a PGH consultant, acting as local faculty and project coordinator.

The idea of a combined Alexandra Hospital (Singapore) and Philippine General Hospital workshop was proposed when Dr. Roland Capito, acting chairman of the PGH anesthesiology department, visited Alexandra Hospital in September 2009 and saw first-hand how ultrasound was used in regional anesthesia.

Convinced of its effectiveness, and envisioning that this technique would be the next frontier in anesthesia, he wanted to introduce this method to PGH anesthesiologists. He asked Associate Professor Koh Kwong Fah, the head of anesthesia department at Alexandra Hospital, if he could send a team of doctors to demonstrate the technique to local doctors.

PGH, the national university hospital, then proceeded to invite anesthesia practitioners from all over Manila and the provinces to attend the workshop. Over 100 attendees participated.

The workshop consisted of a series of lectures and hands-on use of ultrasound, with the highlight being a live demo in the PGH operating room on the last day.

By the end of the workshop, PGH had received congratulatory messages as well as requests for more of such workshops. PGH will be purchasing a P3 million ultrasound machine next year exclusively for anesthesia use with the approval of Hospital Director Dr. Carmelo Alfiler.

Regional anesthesia is anesthesia affecting a large part of the body, for example anesthesia of the upper arm, forearm, hand, leg and foot. Traditionally, the failure rate of these techniques, even in expert hands, is high (between 10 to 20 percent).

However, with ultrasound, the needle placement is guided by an image that is acquired in real time for accurate injection of the local anesthetic into the target nerve, thereby ensuring a high success rate of close to 100%. 

The advantages of this technique are that patients can be awake during the operation, thus avoiding the side-effects of general anesthesia, and allows the surgeon to talk with the patient during the procedure, if required. This also guarantees that the patient will be pain free 12-24 hours after the operation. - THE FREEMAN