Meeting Highlight

With obesity and metabolic syndrome reaching alarming levels in Malaysia, clinicians are looking beyond conventional approaches to expand the bariatric toolbox. Among the emerging options, intragastric balloons (IGBs) are gaining momentum as a minimally invasive, endoscopic solution to support the initial step in weight loss alongside lifestyle change. At the recent “Intragastric Balloon” workshop hosted by the Department of Surgery, Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz (HCTM) UKM in Kuala Lumpur, leading experts in bariatric innovation shared their perspectives on advancing IGB therapy in clinical practice. 

Advancing "green nephrology" through eco-friendly technologies and patient-led initiatives can reduce the environmental footprint of kidney care while improving patient independence and QoL.

With a rapidly deteriorating disease course, glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and aggressive primary brain tumor with a typical 2-year and 5-year survival rate of 25% and 5-10%, respectively. Ever since the establishment of a standard-of-care treatment more than 15 years ago, comprising of surgical resection followed by adjuvant concurrent temozolomide chemo-radiotherapy (CCRT), little progress has been made. To address this unmet need, tumor-treating fields (TTFields) was introduced as a concurrent antimitotic treatment to CCRT and demonstrated a significant survival benefit among GBM patients worldwide as well as in Hong Kong. In the 27th Annual Scientific Meeting held by the Hong Kong Neurosurgical Society in December 2020, Dr. Peter Woo, Specialist in Neurosurgery, presented the interim analysis of a local study that demonstrated significant quality-of-life (QoL) and progression-free survival (PFS) benefits among newly-diagnosed GBM patients who received TTFields plus CCRT when compared to CCRT alone.