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“Ovarian cancer can occasionally be a hereditary malignancy. I believe that improved access to cancer genetics services and integration of these services into designated cancer centres can meaningfully contribute to cancer prevention in Ireland.” Dr. David Gallagher. Click here to read more.

Monday July 25 2011

WHEN you’ve a new baby in the house, sleep takes on mystical significance. You count the hours you get. If the kid puts in a good night and you get four hours on the trot, you spend the day marvelling about it. If she doesn’t, you spend the day zoning out in the middle of things. You keep . . . What was I saying . . . Oh yes, sleep.

Dr Catherine Crowe is a specialist in sleep disorders at the Mater Private Hospital. She says that sleep is as fundamental as food and water. “It is important that people sleep well, and that’s for physical, emotional and intellectual well-being. A good sleep allows you to concentrate well and be focused, and it keeps your short-term memory functioning properly.”

Since my new daughter, Cathy, arrived, my short-term memory has gone to seed. At night time, I go to lock the door and discover that I’ve already locked it. I drive to the wrong places, I put the wrong clothes on the wrong children, I go out wearing odd shoes. If I get put on hold, by the time the person eventually comes on the line, I’ve forgotten who I called.

Actress Scarlett Johansson had become so starved of sleep that her mother ordered her to go on holiday. She admits her mother kept saying: “Take a vacation, get some rest, go to sleep, what’s wrong with you?” But she admits that even when she is on vacation all she thinks about is work.

“There’s huge variation from person to person,” says Dr Crowe. “Most of us can put up with one bad night. It’s when you get a series of bad nights, that’s when it can have a real impact.”

American sleep expert Dr Lisa Shives says that sleep deprivation reduces productivity at work and at school. “Some studies,” she says, “also link poor sleep with increased susceptibility to ulcers, heart disease, obesity, depression and a host of age-related ailments.”

Then there’s driver fatigue. According to the Road Safety Authority, 4,000 people are killed per year throughout Europe because of tiredness, while driver fatigue contributes to one in five road deaths in Ireland.

But there are also less obvious consequences. In their recent book, Nurture Shock, Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman looked at many myths surrounding child-rearing. One of the key findings they discuss is that sleep deprivation is directly related to obesity.

“There are at least seven hormones that we know of that are produced during sleep and a number of them relate to metabolism,” says Ashley Merryman. “These hormones are responsible for hunger and satiation, and they become disregulated if you don’t sleep.” You wonder why you get so hungry if you’ve been up all night? It’s because your brain panics.

“Three-to four-year-olds should be getting about 10 hours sleep a night. If they’re getting less, they are 300pc more likely to become obese,” she says, and adolescents need 9.25 hours. “For every hour of sleep they’re not getting, their likelihood of becoming obese increases 80pc per hour . . . One of the researchers we spoke to found that when secondary students fall below eight hours of sleep, they double the likelihood of clinical depression.”

Merryman suggests that the whole sullen teenager thing may all come down to the fact that they’re simply not getting enough sleep. “All of the symptoms of teen moodiness — short tempers, erratic behaviour, short-term memory loss, impulse control problems, all can be related to sleep deprivation.”

If you have trouble sleeping there is a range of things that can help turn it around. A regular routine is important. “Try to follow the same routine during the week and on the weekend so that your body clock stays in synchrony,” says Dr Crowe. The body clock, she says, is not a vague concept. It’s an actual series of cells located in your mid-brain. “Your body clock send commands to your sleep/wake cycle, it controls the timing of different hormones as well as your body temperature and your ability to concentrate.”

If lack of sleep is becoming a serious problem, go see your GP. “If you wake up a few times but you’re still functioning fine the next day, I wouldn’t be too concerned, but if you’re finding yourself nodding off in quiet environments and you’ve had adequate sleep, you should get checked out. If you sleep with someone, ask: Am I snoring very loudly? Are my legs jigging in the middle of the night? What do I look like when I’m asleep?” These may be symptoms of sleep disorders.

Dr Crowe has no magic bullet for my sleep deprivation. “If you’ve a baby who’s crying, to a certain extent you just have to put up with it.” In time, she says, it will pass.

For the moment, I’ll just have to keep passing out.

- John Hearne

The Mater Private Sleep Disorders Clinic is run on multidisciplinary lines and once diagnosis is confirmed treatment may be carried out by a variety of professionals depending on the problem.

Problems include:

• Circadian Rhythm Disorders (Bodyclock is out of sync)
• Insomnia
• Narcolepsy
• Restless Leg Syndrome
• Sleep Apnoea
• Snoring
• Parasomnias (e.g. nightmares and sleep walking)

Newstalk Breakfast spoke to Sarah Keane, Sleep Technician with the Mater Private Sleep Disorders Clinic.

Sarah talks about the importance of a good nights sleep and offers advice to people with sleeping difficulties.

Click here to listen

Mater Private Hospital on managing

patients with chronic total occlusions

(CTO) recently, IMN spoke to Dr

Brendan Doyle, a leading consultant

cardiologist at the Hospital, to discover

the advantages of the complex

procedure.

Dr Doyle previously trained in the

procedure with US expert Dr William

L Lombardi, Adjunct Assistant Clinical

Professor of Cardiology at Stanford

University, US, at his hospital in Seattle,

who also spoke at the meeting held in

Dublin.

Read More….

Tel: 1800 222 333   Fax: 01 – 860 3967  endoscopy@materprivate.ie 

Mater Private Gastroenterology Group, 71 Eccles Street, Dublin 7

Dr. Gayle Bennett is a newly appointed gastroenterologist at the Mater Private Hospital. Together with Dr. Barry Kelleher and Prof. Padraic MacMathuna, they have formed the Mater Private Gastroenterology Group. As part of this new group, a new Direct Access Endoscopy Service has been established and is now accepting referrals.

This service is uniquely positioned to offer full and comprehensive follow-on treatment to patients as required, with direct access to specific expertise in the fields of surgery and radiology, including CT Colonography.

Referrals are triaged by Consultant on site and suitable patients are booked into the next available slot (or into the next available slot if the specified Consultant) in the Direct Access Clinic Complex cases will be referred to rooms for an initial consultation.

SERVICE FEATURES

• Referrals – same day triage by Consultant if received before 2pm
• Appointments – scheduled within 2 working days directly with patient
• Reports – sent back to referring doctor within 24 hours; verbal communication of urgent results
• Results & Management plan – discussed with patient on day of procedure
• Insurance Cover – full cover on majority of plans, call 1800 222 333 for details

SERVICE ACCESS

• Referrals - Direct referrals by email, fax, phone or post
• Administration – Dedicated administration team at 71 Eccles Street

The primary aim of the new cancer genetics service at the Mater Private Hospital is to offer preventative care for individuals who have an increased risk of developing cancer. An increased understanding of hereditary predisposition to cancer is providing a new direction in cancer treatment, particularly with respect to diagnosis, management and ultimately prevention. The goal of cancer genetics, which is an expanding area of clinical practice, is to reduce mortality among high risk individuals.

The process begins by recording accurate data on family members, both those affected by cancer and those unaffected. This is traced through at least three generations, with the emphasis on the types of cancer and the age at diagnosis. Hereditary breast ovarian cancer syndrome and Lynch syndrome are the two commonest cancer predisposition syndromes that are tested for in a cancer genetics clinic, but many other tests for rare cancer predisposition syndromes are clinically available. Breast cancer is the malignancy that most commonly leads to a cancer genetics referral. The clinical features that should lead to suspicion of inherited predisposition to breast cancer for example are early age at onset, cancer in both breasts, multiple cases of breast and ovarian cancer in the family, male breast cancer and breast and ovarian cancer in the same individual.

Speaking about the launch of the new cancer genetics clinic, Dr. David Gallagher said

“From my experience at Memorial Sloan Kettering, I believe that improved access to cancer genetics services and integration of these services into designated cancer centres can meaningfully contribute to cancer prevention in Ireland. The provision of risk assessment and prevention counseling services is paramount to the success of a comprehensive cancer care programme. The addition of a genetics service provides a preventive as well as personalised medicine component to The Mater Private Cancer Centre. Increased awareness of hereditary predisposition has increased demand for genetic counselling and genetic testing, and improved access to this service is imperative to allow affected families avail of cancer prevention and early-detection methods. Timely intervention will help individuals with a genetic risk of cancer to clarify their risk status and ultimately reduce morbidity and mortality, prolong life. Women receiving positive genetic test results have cited relief from uncertainty and anxiety and consider the knowledge gained a positive factor in the ability to make active decisions about their healthcare. The decision as to whether to pursue a screening or preventive surgery strategy is often determined by the individual’s perception of risk which in turn may be influenced by their personal and/or family experience of cancer.

“For others, a more positive outcome from genetics testing, i.e. where no mutation is found, alleviates a great deal of stress and worry about cancer. The emphasis is firmly on ensuring that the process remains voluntary throughout, i.e. that the individual can opt out of the process at any stage. However, genetic counselling and testing also empowers high risk individuals to take greater control of the management of their health.”

Clinical Nurse Specialist Michael Farrell said

“It is important to listen carefully to the individual and assess perceptions of cancer risk, learn of prior experiences with cancer within the family and provide an ample opportunity for questions to be asked and allow a truly informed decision to be made. Both individuals and families experience various psychological reactions in the context of genetic testing and issues frequently arise that offer challenges to health carers involved in this area. Many have lingering hurt and unresolved grief relating to cancer diagnoses and deaths within their families and these issues frequently surface during discussions. Emotional reactions can range from anxiety and fear to depression and loss of self esteem. The objective of the genetic counsellor is to help the person manage all of these issues and come to a decision which achieves the right outcome for each individual.”

The Mater Private Cancer Genetics Clinic is now open to referrals. The clinic can be contact at 01 8858433, Dr. David Gallagher, Medical Oncologist and Medical Geneticist, can be contacted at 01 8858883 and Mr. Michael Farrell, Genetics Counsellor, at 01 8858398.

Mater Private invests €2 million in da Vinci surgical robot to facilitate best clinical outcomes for patients

The Mater Private Hospital, one of Europe’s leading private hospitals, today launched Ireland’s first multi-specialty robotic assisted surgical programme which will enable surgeons to deliver the best possible outcomes for patients across a range of surgical procedures.  Using the da Vinci Surgical System, the Mater Private Hospital is one of a select group of hospitals in the world that will offer superior three dimensional, high definition visualisation during Urology, Gynaecology and Colorectal surgical procedures, as well as enhanced dexterity which ensures greater precision.  Surgeons at the Mater Private Hospital will use this leading technology to perform complex procedures such as prostatectomy, hysterectomy and colon resection.  As the procedures are less invasive than traditional surgeries, patient outcomes are superior with reduced incidence of complications and faster recovery times.

Fergus Clancy, Chief Executive at The Mater Private Hospital explained:

“We are proud to offer the option of this exciting technology to such a wide range of patient groups across a number of specialities.  The hospital Urology programme is already well established with over 40 patients having already successfully undergone robotic assisted prostatectomy.  Urologists, Professor John Fitzpatrick and Mr Kiaran O’Malley at the Mater Private are currently providing this service.   A number of Gynaecology and Colorectal surgeons at the Mater Private are now in the process of training on the system so that the technology will also be available to patients as an alternative to both open and laparoscopic surgery. The Mater Private Hospital is a hi-tech hospital, committed to providing  leading edge medical technology and ensuring that patients in Ireland can have the best possible clinical outcomes.  We certainly have achieved this with the robotic assisted surgical programme.”

Consultant Surgeon, Mr. Kiaran O’Malley said:

“There are significant benefits to minimally invasive procedures using this technology, including less pain, less blood loss and less need for blood transfusions.  Less invasive surgery also means a shorter stay in hospital for the patient, as well as a quicker recovery and a more rapid return to normal daily activities.  The Mater Private is a Centre of Excellence for prostate robotic surgery; in addition to its own campus based surgeons we have visiting Consultants from other major Dublin teaching hospitals attending the hospital exclusively to use the technology on their own cohort of patients.”

Most private health insurance plans cover 90% to 100% of the costs of robotic prostate surgery at The Mater Private Hospital, for further information on insurance cover call 01-885 8785.