Bulletin Spring‧Summer 2006

36 Chinese University Bulletin Spring • Summer 2006 Medical News New Treatment CUHK Pioneers Use of Cardiac Contractility Modulation Heart failure has a mortality rate of close to 50 per cent in three years. Patients suffer fromaweakening of the heart muscle’s pumping function. In a late stage, the heart enlarges progressively, making contraction and blood pumping difficult. Organ failure may result. Conventional treatment for heart failure includes medications to control symptoms and prevent disease progression. However there has been no effective treatment that directly enhances the heart’s pumping and contractility. The Division of Cardiology of the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics has been in the forefront of clinical research to develop new and effective therapies for heart failure. Since July 2005, it has been using a new therapy called Cardiac Contractility Modulation (CCM) on heart failure cases — the first and only centre in Asia to implant this device. CCM therapy involves planting a device that delivers intermittent electrical impulses to increase the contractility of the heart during native muscle contraction. Patients having received the implants all reported improvement of symptoms, a better quality of life, and increased capacity for exercise. Cure for Vesicoureteral Reflux in Children Vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) is a common condition affecting one to two per cent of all children in whom there is an abnormal retrograde flow of urine from the bladder back into the kidneys. Refluxing urine can transport bacteria from the bladder towards the kidneys, inflicting pyelonephritis and kidney damage. This can lead to renal scarring, reduced kidney function, and hypertension. VUR is one of the commonest causes for urinary tract infections (UTI) and end-stage renal failure in children. The Division of Paediatric Surgery and Paediatric Urology of the Faculty of Medicine has pioneered a completely new management algorithm with minimally invasive treatment of VUR that provides complete cure for all grades of reflux and yet involves only endoscopic treatment. Since 2000, the division has successfully applied this pneumovesical technique for severe grade reflux on close to a hundred patients with a 99 per cent cure rate. This technique allows anti-reflux surgery to be performedwithout opening up the bladder and does not necessitate any in-dwelling ureteric catheter. Patients are up and about within a few hours after surgery and can be discharged in 24 hours with minimal pain and discomfort. The new treatment algorithm provides definitive surgical treatment that aims at an early cure and higher success rate. There is far less trauma to the child and the high cure rate alleviates the need for long-term follow-up with radiological investigations and antibiotic treatment. ‘A Tooth for an Eye’ — New Hope for Corneal Blindness Osteo-Odonto Keratoprosthesis (OOKP) or ‘Tooth-in-Eye’, pioneered by Prof. Benedetto Strampelli in Italy in the 1960s, is a procedure which aims at restoring sight to patients with the most severe type of corneal and ocular surface diseases, for whom other treatments would not be useful. It involves creating a support for an artificial cornea from the patient’s own tooth and ( From left ) Dr. Fung Wing-hong, Prof. Yu Cheuk- man, Dr. Joseph Chan at the press conference on 17 February