Iraqi Medical Society meeting March 09

On 8^th March 09 the Society met in Imperial College London in the presence of a delegation from Iraq. The scientific programme discussed several important subjects. The first speaker was Dr Abbas Latif, Consultant Paediatrician. His presentation was about the autism as a brain development disorder characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior.  Abbas mentioned that about a third to a half of individuals with autism do not develop enough natural speech to meet their daily communication needs. It was mentioned in the discussion that followed the lecture that autistic individuals may have symptoms that are independent of the diagnosis, but that can affect the individual or the family.

The second speaker was Dr. Ali Alhasani, Consultant Radiologist. He mentioned that the clinicians should consider few factors before embarking on certain radiological investigation. Some of these factors are: Non invasiveness / cost effectiveness and high specificity with easy availability and accessibility of the radiology investigation itself.
One of the major development in the field of radiology is the Multislice CT which is a major development in diagnostic imaging. It started with 4 slice in 1998 and in 2001 the 16 slice MDCT was on the market.

In 2004 the 64 slice MDCT technology emerged which enabled the radiologists to perform cardiac CT examination properly. There are 128, 256 and even 320 MDCT at present.
Ali went on to explain few cases that he was dealing with recently.

The third speaker was Dr. Majid Rashid, Consultant Pathologist. He was speaking about the death certification system in UK. He mentioned that according to the update that he was aware of, a medical examiner system might well be in place in UK in the near future, That will make the system in the NHS more similar to the one in USA with regards of the death certification and cremation process. Majid was explaining few details regarding the cause of death and how to fill a death certificate.

The next speaker was Dr Nawfal Shareef, Consultant Paediatrician. His main subject in his presentation was about the up to date management of asthma in children. He was very keen to highlight the fact that you need to keep the treatment easy and simple. However; he acknowledged that there are few difficult cases especially in dealing with asthmatic baby of less than one year old.

Mr Saad Al-Fattal , Orthopaedic surgeon was the next speaker. He was talking about the Iraqi city Mosul and its history using his magnificent photo collection. He presented in the meeting original photos about the main bridge in Mosul and the mosques, Churches and businesses in the old city of Mosul. He described in details the life in the city in 18^th , 19^th and 20^th century Iraq.