Hundreds of ‘Chest Specialists’ and ‘Young Physicians’ from Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, Bahawalpur, Jhelum, Abbottabad, Swat and Faisalabad participated in the VTC conference broadcast from LNH. Prof. Kenneth R. Chapman, Director of the ‘Asthma and Airway Center of the University Health Network’ spoke of ‘Asthma Management Practices and the Role of Seretide.’ He emphasised that ‘Inhaled Corticosteroids are the most effective treatment therapy for total control of asthma.’ The conference was sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline Pakistan.
Prof. Chapman spoke about the importance of asthma control, ways of asthma control and assessment by the ‘Asthma Control Test (ACT). He informed that uncontrolled asthma resulted in more emergency visits to physicians and hospitalizations. Explaining about the landmark study of GOAL (Gaining Optimal Asthma Control), Prof. Chapman said that ‘Total Control of Asthma’ is only possible with sustained treatment with proper asthma medications like ‘Inhaled Corticosteroids’. Total asthma control means no regular night-time awakenings, no reliever use and no day-time symptoms. He said that in asthma control regular assessment of control levels is very important. Prof Kenneth Chapman also emphasized the use of corticosteroids in the form of inhalers because it is the most effective way of asthma treatment.
Prof. Nadeem Rizvi, Head of the Pakistan Chest Society introduced the speaker and topic. Prof Kenneth Chapman is a respected researcher in the field of Asthma, Chronic Obstructive Disease and Airway Diseases. He is a Graduate from the University of Toronto and is currently working as Prof. of Medicine at the University of Toronto. His broad program of research is designed to assess, improve and disseminate optimal strategies for managing the common respiratory illnesses, asthma and COPD.
The presentation was followed by an interactive questions and answers session between the participating physicians and the speaker.