VELLORE: Asians are more prone to vascular malformations, says 70-year-old professor Byung-Boong Lee from the Center for Vein, Lymphatics and Vascular Malformations, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., US. He is here to take part in the Continuing Medical Education Programme on ‘Vascular Malformation’ organised on January 25 by the Department of Vascular Surgery, Christian Medical College (CMC), here.
Lee who was part of a pioneering group of researchers and medicos who have studied the problems in blood vessels since the 1970s in the US contributed significantly to the understanding of the process of ‘hemodynamics’ or the movement of blood in the complicated blood vessel system.
While researchers across the world are still trying to understand the arterial, venous and lymphatic system and the cause for the malformations, Lee pointed out that recent evidences showed that such a miscreation could occur when the reticular system that is formed to transport blood in the embryo, later develops into the vascular blood vessel network. The reason could be genetic in certain cases, he added. In his experience in the past 40 years, there have been higher incidence of malformations among Asians and native-American Indians.
According to Lee, new thinking and research has gone into the understanding of the functioning of blood vessels in the past two decades. The Korean and Vietnam wars actually helped in learning about blood vessels while treating injured soldiers. While blood vessels were thought to be mere transport vehicles in the past, more information is now available on their hemodynamics and how they regulate body temperature. Any disturbance in this system could affect the major functions of the body. These research findings have given a new orientation to the treatment of malformations in the blood vessel system, Lee noted.
Lee, who began his career as a transplant surgeon in Korea, moved to the US where he evinced interest in the vascular system. During his tenure at Johns Hopkins University as clinical professor of surgery, he established a world class liver transplantation programme in Seoul, South Korea, supported by Samsung Medical Center. At the center, a team of surgeons trained by Lee focuses on treating malformations using a multi-disciplinary approach.
“If detected earlier, malformations could be controlled and patients could lead a normal life,” said Lee. He is planning to set up facilities at Switzerland, Egypt, Jordan and Italy to provide state-of-the-art surgical treatment for blood vessel related problems using laser treatment, radio frequency therapy and drugs to destroy the blood clot to stop bleeding after surgery.
He is also willing to help India set up such facilities, he added.