“India witnessing spurt in Urological diseases”:Dr Anup Kumar
NEW DELHI : There is an old medical adage that goes like this : In ancient times, physicians in Greece and Egypt diagnosed and treated patients afflicted with urinary tract diseases by examining color, odour and texture of urine.
But in modern era, the medical science is chiefly centered on urine-related system which is known as urology in medical parlance.
“Nowadays, in our country there are many urologic disorders and diseases that have afflicted male, female children and elderly in large numbers. As per an estimate, 20 percent of Indian population suffers from urinary tract diseases of one kind or the other,” says Dr ANUP KUMAR , Professor and Head, Department of Urology and Renal Transplant at Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung hospital Delhi. In an exclusive interview with newstrack24x7.com’s Special Correspondent GYAN BHADRA , Dr Kumar explains about the different types of urological disorders and diseases and their remedial measures in a matter-of-factly manner. Excerpts :
Question : What is the current status of urological disease-afflicted patients in India ?
Answer : As a matter of fact, it primarily depends on age group. Take for instance : pediatric group of 0—12 years. In this group, we have observed that 20 percent of the patients suffers from congenital disorders, infection and urological disorders.
Similarly in the younger group of 20-40 years, 30 percent of the younger population often complains of urological infection, stones, congenital issues and trauma. Here the trauma refers to injury to bladder, kidney and urethra.
In the elderly group of 50-70 years, prostrate issues crop up among 30 to 35 percent patients. Prostrate problems could be of benign nature, enlargement of prostrate followed by infection. What is more tormenting for them in the fag end of their lives is that when cancer spreads and takes in its fold their prostrate and bladder. They are also most likely to suffer from kidney stones.
As regards female population, they usually visit doctors for overactive bladder, urinary incontinence followed by infection. As per an estimate, 20 percent of country’ s population is afflicted with urological diseases of one kind or the other. And the number of such patients is increasing at an alarming pace.
Q :Kindly educate our readers about the structure of urinary tract ?
Ans : The urinary tract system comprises two kidneys, ureters, urinary bladder and urethra. Kidney : The two kidneys filter waste material produced by protein metabolism. The kidneys ensure production of hormones to maintain the level of hemoglobin and blood pressure in the body.
Ureters : In fact, ureters carry urine from kidney to the urinary bladder. There are two ureters attached to two kidneys.
Urinary bladder : The urinary bladder stores urine which comes from the two ureters. The bladder ensures the urination to be less frequent and controlled.
Urethra : The size of the urethra in male is longer in comparison to that of female.in male, it is 26 cm long whereas in female it is 4cm. Tube-shaped urethra carries urine from bladder to outside of the human body. In other words, it facilitates passing of the urine from bladder to outside.
Q :With regard to urinary tract, what kind of diseases are treated ?
Ans : To begin with, we start treatment of congenital problems. A urological case in point : Pelvic Ureteric Junction Obstruction. This usually happens during the course of fetal development. Coming close on its heels is vesicoureteral reflux, another congenital disorder. In this case, the flow of urine diverts from the right way. Among infants and young children, this is found to be more common.
Cancer : We treat cancer of kidneys, prostrate and penis. Urethral Trauma : We treat urethral trauma which happens due to pelvic fractures. Kidney Trauma : We treat bruised kidneys. In addition to all this, inflammatory disorders. tuberculosis infection, acute bacterial infection and painful bladder syndrome afflict urinary tract system.
Q : We have heard a lot about “Reconstructive Surgery”. Kindly explain it to our readers.
Ans : As the name itself suggests, in this procedure we operate patients to help restore urinary, sexual and reproductive function in the body.In pelvic junction obstruction, we operate and remove “obstruction” part. We reconstruct pelvis to ureter. In the case of cancerous bladder , we operate to remove the bladder. After that, we reconstruct a bladder by using intestine segment.
Q : What is urethral stricture ?
Ans : Under this, we treat inflammatory, traumatic, malignancy and idiopathic cases. In the inflammatory conditions, we treat BXO (Balanitis Xerotica Obliterans). We perform construction surgery by taking tissue segment from mouth ( Buccal Mucosa). It is used to replace the diseased urethral tissue.
Q : Please tell us about neurogenic bladder diseases ?
Ans : This pertains to lack of bladder control due to trauma unleashed to spinal cord. Also there could be malignancy in spinal cord and infection such as tuberculosis.
Q : In genito–urinary system, which are thr organs that get afflicted with cancer ?
Ans : In fact, kidney, bladder, testicles and penis are the organs that are susceptible to cancer.
Q:From which part of the country, the patients with urological disorders throng the hospital in large numbers ?
Ans : People from north and eastern parts of the country, it seems, are more vulnerable to urologic diseases as they throng in large numbers. People from western part also visit us. But they are less in number. From southern part, the number is much less.
