Cardiovascular disease, oral cancer in focus at WCM-Q event

Two leading experts in their respective fields of medicine spoke at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar’s (WCM-Q) Grand Rounds to discuss oral cancer and the impact of lifestyle on cardiovascular disease risk.Visiting expert Dr Sanjiv Kaul of the Knight Cardiovascular Institute at the Oregon Health & Science University in Portland gave a presentation titled, ‘Lifestyle and Cardiovascular Risk’. Dr Kaul, who also holds the title of Professor of Medicine and Radiology, explained how both dietary and non-dietary changes to lifestyle habits can improve cardiovascular outcomes, as well as discussing the impact of judicious use of cooking oils on cardiovascular health. Dr Kaul said, “Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the number one killer of people in the world today. Our risk of CAD is determined in part by factors beyond our control, such as family history, gender and age. But many, many other factors that determine CAD risk are within our control, such as developing diabetes through poor lifestyle choices, sedentary lifestyle, smoking, cholesterol, obesity, stress and hypertension. In fact, 85% of CAD is preventable and can be treated if detected early. So, lifestyle plays a very, very important role in coronary artery disease.” Dr Kaul then explained the impact on CAD risk of various factors, including physical activity, body weight, diet, caffeine consumption, smoking, sleep and stress. Dr Dominique Laatz, oral surgeon at the German Dental Centre in Doha, gave a presentation titled, ‘Oral Cancer: Basic Facts and Early Detection’, in which he outlined the demographic patterns of oral cancer incidence, discussed the methodology of cancer screening, and explained the risk factors that make oral cancer more likely, such as tobacco use, alcohol consumption, human papilloma virus, and chewing betel quids or areca nuts. Dr Laatz also discussed the advantages of the enhanced recovery after surgery protocol.  “Over 85% of all oral cancer cases are associated with tobacco consumption – that is clearly a very significant number. Furthermore, consuming alcohol plus tobacco is a very bad idea because the effect is ‘super-multiplicative’ – that means you get a much, much higher risk if you do them both, it does not just double,” Dr Laatz added.