Daily Times

The amphitheatres of Medical-Physics, Nuclear Medicine and Bio-medical Engineering have engendered preternatural verdure and irrepressible joie de vivre to the ephemeral lives of the downtrodden humanity. Today, the bio-medical tools are beating the palimpsest of miseries and bringing salubrious arenas of change in the management of pathological conditions. The drudgeries and forays of the brains and brawn of Medical-physicists and bio-medical engineers have catapulted the standards of Clinical Medicine to new heights, with minimal effects of portending vagaries in the trendy cosmopolitan culture.

The field of Physics was revolutionised by various achievements that pummelled the maledictions of pessimism and spearheaded the incantations of optimism for mankind in the 20th century. Physics further contributed to the comprehension of human nature in the form of Bio-Physics, which was introduced by Karl Pearson in 1892. 2012 was a unique year in human history because of an interesting episode that took place with the help of the Large Hadron Collider. A new particle with a mass of 125GeV was discovered and confirmed to be the Higgs Boson. That discovery completed the Standard model whose journey, right from propounding in 1964, led to the conferring of Nobel Prize on Peter Higgs in 2013. The Higgs Field is an energy field that permeates the whole universe and consists of countless Higgs Bosons. According to this writer, If the concept behind Higgs Bosons and Higgs Field are true, then it should also be true that mankind can invent and devise antiviral, antibacterial and anti-neoplastic tools by minimising or increasing the Higgs Field inside the molecules of viruses, bacteria and cancerous cells in the future.

The Hadron and Proton Radiation therapies are already in use in Medical Physics, with reports emerging in February 2018 that Finland was attempting to introduce new Boron Neutron Capture Treatment (BNCT) which would be used for treating the cancers of the head and neck

The human beings of the future can make various quantum leaps with the help of Higgs field minimisers and increasers. Although, the life spans of Higgs Bosons are very short, it is my firm conviction that they can play a pivotal role in the Clinical medicine of tomorrow. The Hadron and Proton Radiation therapies are already in use in the arena of Medical Physics. The Proton Treatment & Research Centre at Loma Linda University Medical Centre (LLUMC) has already emplaced a paradigm of Proton Therapy treatments. In the same chain of events, the media reported in February 2018 that Finland was pursuing the path of introducing new Boron Neutron Capture Treatment (BNCT) which would be used for treating the cancers of the head and neck. In addition, the Higgs Boson/Field therapy will be a breakthrough in Medical Physics in the coming days. Furthermore, as a true believer in God and his wonders around us, the discovery of Higgs Bosons and Higgs Field also convey the message that dooms day can occur with the disappearance of Higgs Field from the whole of the universe. The lofty goals of Medicine became more sacrosanct in the modern era due to induction of hardware like Single- photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) & Positron- Emission Tomography (PETs). Similarly, the imaging tools like X-Rays, Ultrasonography, Echocardiography, CT- Scans and MRIs are all the products of Medical Physics and Bio-Medical Engineering.

To know the frequency of patients utilising the facilities of Medical imaging in hospitals, a retrospective Cohort study was conducted by me from January 2017 to December 2017 at DHQ Teaching Hospital, KDA, Kohat, Pakistan. According to the census of 2017, the total population of district Kohat is 993874 and I later found that 47923 patients utilised the X-Ray Department, while 12706 patients used Ultrasonography. From the aforementioned statistics, the Rate of per year utilisation of X-Rays facility at DHQ Teaching Hospital, KDA- Kohat was found to be 0.04821839 while that of Ultrasonography bore the rate of 0.01278432. The Positive and Negative Predictive Values for various disorders could not be ascertained due to the retrospective nature of study but the study did reveal some stunning results about the validity of bio-medical tools at Government hospitals. The obsolete nature of various machines like that of X-Rays, exhibited less than the desired specificity and sensitivity in some conditions.

Most of the imaging equipment inside the Government hospitals of Pakistan at secondary care level are outmoded and need urgent replacement. For that purpose, brand-new machines, like Digital X-Rays, should be installed instead. To achieve the lofty goal of health care management, the MRIs and CT-Scans should be introduced in secondary care setups of Pakistan i.e. THQs and DHQs. Though, Bremsstrahlung plays a central role in modern imaging and therapeutic equipment, scientists should utilise their much-needed efforts to ferret out and explore other arenas that can be considered as leap forwards of extra-ordinary nature. The prominent role of a Physicist should be highlighted, as they are responsible for a wide range of tasks in Nuclear Medicine and must perform duties that include the procurement and maintenance of imaging equipment and associated computer systems. Lastly, a vibrant institutional arrangement for producing luminaries of Medical Physics and Bio Medical Engineering should be evolved in third world countries like Pakistan for catapulting their health management systems to new heights.

The writer did MBBS from Xi’an Jiaotong University, PR China in 2010 and currently serves as medical officer at DHQ Teaching Hospital, KDA, Kohat, Pakistan. He can be reached at drfaisalali88@gmail.com

Published in Daily Times, July 20^th 2018.