Displaying all 15 publications

Abstract:
Sort:
  1. Ho CC, Zulkifli MZ, Nazri J, Sundram M
    Med J Malaysia, 2008 Mar;63(1):41-3.
    PMID: 18935731
    Hand-assisted laparoscopic nephrectomy (HAL-N) and nephroureterectomy (HAL-NU) were introduced to bridge the gap between open and laparoscopic surgery. This newer technique has the benefits of both laparoscopic and open surgical approaches but has a shorter learning curve and decreased operative time compared to laparoscopic surgery. A review of our 2-year experience showed that for the seventeen cases of HAL-N that was performed, the mean operative time was 187.8 minutes while the mean length of hospital stay was 4.1 days. For the two HAL-NU cases, the mean operative time was 415 minutes while the mean length of hospital stay was 5.5 days. Only one complication occurred and it was an incisional hernia at the hand-port site. There was no recurrence for the carcinoma cases. Our experience shows that this technique is feasible and safe.
  2. Mariappan P, Chong WL, Sundram M, Mohamed SR
    BJU Int, 2004 Aug;94(3):307-10.
    PMID: 15291857
    To determine if a volume-adjusted increase in the number of biopsy cores could detect more prostate cancers than the standard sextant biopsy alone, without increasing morbidity, and to determine its applicability in Malaysian patients, as a standard sextant biopsy misses 20-25% of prostate malignancies.
  3. Sothilingam S, Sundram M, Malek R, Sahabuddin RM
    Urol Oncol, 2010;28(6):670-2.
    PMID: 21062649 DOI: 10.1016/j.urolonc.2009.12.014
    The incidence of prostate cancer in Malaysia is still low compared to the west. This may be due to a true low incidence or lower detection rates. Prostate Awareness Campaigns are held on a yearly basis to educate and encourage males over the age of 50 years to have their prostate examined. Such a campaign was organized in 2005 at the national level involving 12 district hospitals. A total of 2770 participants attended the campaign. 38.7% had no urinary symptoms and attended out of curiosity. Among the symptomatic patients, nocturia was the most bothersome in the majority. 84.6% of the participants also had some degree of erectile dysfunction based on the IIEF questionnaire. 10.4% of participants had a PSA > 4 ng/mL. Malay participants had the highest mean PSA level (2.32 ng/mL) and Indian participants the lowest (1.30 ng/mL). 408 participants were called back for biopsy but only 183 agreed to the biopsy. 30 cancers were detected. At present Malaysia will benefit most by continuing to conduct these awareness programmes to educate the public on prostate disease and hopefully in future patients will be less reluctant to have prostate biopsies taken when indicated.
  4. Faizal A, Bujang Safawi E, Sundram M, Kueh NS, Normala B
    Urol Int, 2011;87(1):117-9.
    PMID: 21709396 DOI: 10.1159/000324543
    Surgical wound infection after a renal transplant procedure can lead to graft loss in the presence of host immunosuppression and graft exposure to the environment. Early cover of the wound with well-vascularized tissue will facilitate early wound healing and preservation of the graft. The pedicle anterolateral thigh perforator flap is a popular flap used for soft tissue reconstruction in the groin and perineum. We present a case of an anterolateral thigh flap used to cover an exposed transplanted kidney after surgical wound breakdown.
  5. Naqiyah I, Rohaizak M, Meah FA, Nazri MJ, Sundram M, Amram AR
    Singapore Med J, 2005 Jul;46(7):344-6.
    PMID: 15968447
    The occurrence of urinary bladder paragangliomas is rare. A 12-year-old Chinese girl who presented with history of blurring of vision was found to have grade IV hypertensive retinopathy. Investigations revealed a phaeochromocytoma on the posterior wall of the urinary bladder. A partial cystectomy with right ureter reimplantation was undertaken and her hypertension was promptly controlled. The diagnosis and management of this rare tumour is discussed.
  6. Bala Sundram M, Kuppusamy E, Yazid F, Rani H
    Digit Health, 2023;9:20552076231203949.
    PMID: 37846402 DOI: 10.1177/20552076231203949
    OBJECTIVE: Dental caries is preventable, yet it remains a common childhood disease. As children are dependent on their parents for oral health care, oral health education for parents is essential to ensure they understand the risk factors and consequences of dental caries and their role in its prevention. This study aims to explore parents' oral health education needs to enable the development and provision of a tailored online oral health education module.

    METHODS: Online focus group discussions were conducted among Malaysian parents to gather information about the content, layout and presentation of oral health information parents sought for the provision of oral health care for their children. Video recordings were transcribed verbatim and thematic analysis was performed using an inductive approach.

    RESULTS: In total, 24 parents participated in the discussions and 4 main themes were uncovered. The first theme was perceived information needs related to dental caries, oral health care and the importance of deciduous teeth. The second theme was parents' preferred information resources which were social media, dentists, mobile phone applications and medical personnel. Thirdly, information delivery format and specific characteristics were recommended. The final theme was challenges and barriers faced in maintaining oral health due to parental constraints, child behaviour and external factors.

    CONCLUSION: Parents' profound feedback and experiential standpoint stipulate the need for the development and delivery of a comprehensible and visually engaging oral health education module by healthcare professionals via social media to enable access to evidence-based information consistently.

  7. Tan JSJ, Ong KC, Ong DBL, Razack A, Lim J, Yunus R, et al.
    Malays J Pathol, 2018 Aug;40(2):103-110.
    PMID: 30173226 MyJurnal
    INTRODUCTION: Prostate cancer is a heterogenous disease and the mechanisms that drive it to behave differently are not well understood. Tumour expression of the ERG oncogene occurs in the majority of patients with prostate cancer in Western studies. This is considered to be oncogenic as ERG acts as a transcription factor to regulate genes involved in tumour proliferation and invasion. In this study we investigated expression of ERG in Malaysian men with prostate cancer.

    METHODS: Tissues were collected from 80 patients with clinically detected prostate cancer and treated with radical prostatectomy. Cases were tested for ERG by immunohistochemistry using the mouse monoclonal antibody EP111. All blocks on 48 cases were tested in order to determine the extent of heterogeneity of ERG expression within individual cases. ERG expression was analysed in relation to patient age, ethnicity and tumour stage and grade.

    RESULTS: Forty-six percent of cases were ERG positive. There was no significant association between ERG and tumour grade or stage. Sixty-nine percent of Indian patients had ERG positive tumours; this was significantly higher (p=0.031) than for Chinese (40%) and Malay (44%) patients. Heterogeneity of ERG expression, in which both positive and negative clones were present, was seen in 35% of evaluated cases. Evaluation by tumour foci showed younger patients had more ERG positive tumour foci than older patients (p=0.01). Indian patients were more likely to have the majority of tumour foci with ERG staining positively, compared to either Chinese or Malay patients (P <0.01).

    CONCLUSION: In this study, tumour expression of ERG was more likely to occur in patients of Indian ethnicity.

  8. Lim J, Bhoo-Pathy N, Sothilingam S, Malek R, Sundram M, Hisham Bahadzor B, et al.
    PLoS One, 2014;9(8):e104917.
    PMID: 25111507 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0104917
    OBJECTIVES: To study the baseline PSA profile and determine the factors influencing the PSA levels within a multiethnic Asian setting.
    MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 1054 men with no clinical evidence of prostate cancer, prostate surgery or 5α-reductase inhibitor treatment of known prostate conditions. The serum PSA concentration of each subject was assayed. Potential factors associated with PSA level including age, ethnicity, height, weight, family history of prostate cancer, lower urinary tract voiding symptoms (LUTS), prostate volume and digital rectal examination (DRE) were evaluated using univariable and multivariable analysis.
    RESULTS: There were 38 men (3.6%) found to have a PSA level above 4 ng/ml and 1016 (96.4%) with a healthy PSA (≤4 ng/ml). The median PSA level of Malay, Chinese and Indian men was 1.00 ng/ml, 1.16 ng/ml and 0.83 ng/ml, respectively. Indians had a relatively lower median PSA level and prostate volume than Malays and Chinese, who shared a comparable median PSA value across all 10-years age groups. The PSA density was fairly similar amongst all ethnicities. Further analysis showed that ethnicity, weight and prostate volume were independent factors associated with age specific PSA level in the multivariable analysis (p<0.05).
    CONCLUSION: These findings support the concept that the baseline PSA level varies between different ethnicities across all age groups. In addition to age and prostate volume, ethnicity may also need to be taken into account when investigating serum PSA concentrations in the multiethnic Asian population.
  9. Lim J, Rampal S, Razack AHA, Malek R, Sundram M, Nasuha NA, et al.
    Urology, 2018 Aug;118:145-151.
    PMID: 29746873 DOI: 10.1016/j.urology.2018.02.055
    OBJECTIVES: To develop a simple prostate volume (PV) calculator that can aid in managing patients with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) secondary to benign prostatic enlargement at daily urology services in developing Asian countries.

    MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study of men aged above 40 years with no history of prostate cancer, prostate surgery, or 5α-reductase inhibitor treatment. Serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and total PV were measured in each subject. Potential sociodemographic and clinical variables including age, weight, comorbidities, and International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) were collected. Of 1034 subjects, 837 were used in building the PV calculator using regression analysis. The remaining 1/5 (n = 197) was used for model validation.

    RESULTS: There were 1034 multiethnic Asian men (Chinese 52.9%, Malay 35.4%, and Indian 11.7%) with mean age of 60 ± 7.6 years. Average PV was 29.4 ± 13.0 mL while the overall mean of PSA was 1.7 ± 1.7 ng/mL. We identified age, IPSS, weight, and PSA (all P 

  10. Lim J, Bhoo-Pathy N, Sothilingam S, Malek R, Sundram M, Tan GH, et al.
    PLoS One, 2015;10(6):e0130820.
    PMID: 26098884 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130820
    To determine the lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) profile and factors affecting its degree of severity including cardiovascular risk profile, age, ethnicity, education level and prostate volume in a multiethnic Asian setting.
  11. Lim J, Hinotsu S, Onozawa M, Malek R, Sundram M, Teh GC, et al.
    Cancer Med, 2020 12;9(24):9346-9352.
    PMID: 33098372 DOI: 10.1002/cam4.3548
    The J-CAPRA score is an assessment tool which stratifies risk and predicts outcome of primary androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) using prostate-specific antigen, Gleason score, and clinical TNM staging. Here, we aimed to assess the generalisability of this tool in multi-ethnic Asians. Performance of J-CAPRA was evaluated in 782 Malaysian and 16,946 Japanese patients undergoing ADT from the Malaysian Study Group of Prostate Cancer (M-CaP) and Japan Study Group of Prostate Cancer (J-CaP) databases, respectively. Using the original J-CAPRA, 69.6% metastatic (M1) cases without T and/or N staging were stratified as intermediate-risk disease in the M-CaP database. To address this, we first omitted clinical T and N stage variables, and calculated the score on a 0-8 scale in the modified J-CAPRA scoring system for M1 patients. Notably, treatment decisions of M1 cases were not directly affected by both T and N staging. The J-CAPRA score threshold was adjusted for intermediate (modified J-CAPRA score 3-5) and high-risk (modified J-CAPRA score ≥6) groups in M1 patients. Using J-CaP database, validation analysis showed that overall survival, prostate cancer-specific survival, and progression-free survival of modified intermediate and high-risk groups were comparable to those of original J-CAPRA (p > 0.05) with Cohen's coefficient of 0.65. Around 88% M1 cases from M-CaP database were reclassified into high-risk category. Modified J-CAPRA scoring system is instrumental in risk assessment and treatment outcome prediction for M1 patients without T and/or N staging.
  12. Jalil NB, Lee PY, Nor Afiah MZ, Abdullah KL, Azizi FNSM, Rassip NNSA, et al.
    J Cancer Educ, 2022 Feb;37(1):169-178.
    PMID: 32564251 DOI: 10.1007/s13187-020-01801-6
    There are several treatment options for localized prostate cancer with very similar outcome but vary in terms of technique and side effect profiles and risks. Considering the potential difficulty in choosing the best treatment, a patient decision aid (PDA) is used to help patients in their decision-making process. However, the use and applicability of PDA in a country in Asia Pacific region like Malaysia is still unknown. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a PDA modified to the local context in improving patients' knowledge, decisional conflict, and preparation for decision making among men with localized prostate cancer. Sixty patients with localized prostate cancer were randomly assigned to control and intervention groups. A self-administered questionnaire, which evaluate the knowledge on prostate cancer (23 items), decisional conflict (10 items) and preparation for decision-making (10 items), was given to all participants at pre- and post-intervention. Data were analyzed using independent T test and paired T test. The intervention group showed significant improvement in knowledge (p = 0.02) and decisional conflict (p = 0.01) from baseline. However, when compared between the control and intervention groups, there were no significant differences at baseline and post-intervention on knowledge, decisional conflict and preparation for decision-making. A PDA on treatment options of localized prostate cancer modified to the local context in an Asia Pacific country improved patients' knowledge and decisional conflict but did not have significant impact on the preparation for decision-making. The study was also registered under the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR), ACTRN12614000668606 registered on 25/06/2014.
  13. Saad M, Alip A, Lim J, Abdullah MM, Chong FLT, Chua CB, et al.
    BJU Int, 2019 09;124(3):373-382.
    PMID: 31077523 DOI: 10.1111/bju.14807
    OBJECTIVE: To examine the results of the Malaysian Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference (MyAPCCC) 2018, held for assessing the generalizability of consensus reached at the Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference (APCCC 2017) to Malaysia, a middle-income country.

    METHODS: Six key sections were chosen: (1) high-risk localized and locally advanced prostate cancer, (2) oligometastatic prostate cancer, (3) castration-naïve prostate cancer, (4) castrate resistant prostate cancer, (5) use of osteoclast-targeted therapy and (6) global access to prostate cancer drugs. There were 101 consensus questions, consisting of 91 questions from APCCC 2017 and 10 new questions from MyAPCCC 2018, selected and modified by the steering committee; of which, 23 questions were assessed in both ideal world and real-world settings. A panel of 22 experts, comprising of 11 urologists and 11 oncologists, voted on 101 predefined questions anonymously. Final voting results were compared with the APCCC 2017 outcomes.

    RESULTS: Most voting results from the MyAPCCC 2018 were consistent with the APCCC 2017 outcomes. No consensus was achieved for controversial topics with little level I evidence, such as management of oligometastatic disease. No consensus was reached on using high-cost drugs in castration-naïve or castration-resistant metastatic prostate cancer in real-world settings. All panellists recommended using generic drugs when available.

    CONCLUSIONS: The MyAPCCC 2018 voting results reflect the management of advanced prostate cancer in a middle-income country in a real-world setting. These results may serve as a guide for local clinical practices and highlight the financial challenges in modern healthcare.

  14. Lim J, Malek R, Jr S, Toh CC, Sundram M, Woo SYY, et al.
    Cancer Med, 2021 11;10(22):8020-8028.
    PMID: 34626088 DOI: 10.1002/cam4.4319
    Prostate cancer is the third most common cancer in Malaysia with the lifetime risk of 1 in 117 men. Here, we initiated a longitudinal Malaysia Prostate Cancer (M-CaP) Study to investigate the clinical and tumour characteristics, treatment patterns as well as disease outcomes of multi-ethnic Asian men at real-world setting. The M-CaP database consisted of 1839 new patients with prostate cancer diagnosed between 2016 and 2018 from nine public urology referral centres across Malaysia. Basic demographic and clinical parameters, tumour characteristics, primary treatment, follow-up and vital status data were retrieved prospectively from the hospital-based patients' case notes or electronic medical records. Primary endpoints were overall survival (OS) and biochemical progression-free survival (bPFS). The median age at diagnosis of M-CaP patients was 70 years (interquartile range, IQR 65-75). Majority of patients were Chinese (831, 45.2%), followed by Malays (704, 38.3%), Indians (124, 6.7%) and other races (181, 9.8%). The median follow-up for all patients was 23.5 months (IQR 15.9-33.6). Although 58.1% presented with late-stage cancer, we observed ethnic and geographic disparities in late-stage prostate cancer diagnosis. Curative radiotherapy and primary androgen deprivation therapy were the most common treatment for stage III and stage IV diseases, respectively. The median OS and bPFS of stage IV patients were 40.1 months and 19.2 months (95% CI 17.6-20.8), respectively. Late stage at presentation remains a challenge in multi-ethnic Asian men. Early detection is imperative to improve treatment outcome and survival of patients with prostate cancer.
Related Terms
Filters
Contact Us

Please provide feedback to Administrator (afdal@afpm.org.my)

External Links