SAN ANTONIO – The third annual San Antonio Liver Cancer Symposium took place on Friday at the Hilton San Antonio Hill Country and is hosted by the Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio.
The two-day event brings together health care professionals from across the country to discuss new research and how liver cancer is impacting their communities.
“We are hoping that we can have a dialog, collaborate on our research and develop new drugs and studies for patients,” Sukeshi Patel Arora, MD, leader of the gastrointestinal malignancies program at Mays Cancer Center.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, chronic liver disease is a leading cause of death among the hispanic and latino population.
“It’s my second year at the conference and it’s grown, which is really exciting. I’m also a presenter about our experience in the Rio Grande Valley with liver cancer,” Lee Drinkard, MD, FACP, at DHR Health.
Drinkard is excited to learn and hopes to develop a bigger program for liver cancer back home, since his community is greatly impacted.
“Ninety four percent Hispanic. The majority heritage is Mexican. It’s a very homogenous population. Underrepresented nationally on a lot of things especially medical research,” Drinkard said.
October is National Liver Cancer Awareness Month and this event reminds the community about the risks, prevention, screening and treatment.
“Unfortunately, live cancer can be silent. Without any symptoms. But screening is very important. There’re certain risk factors like Hepatitis, someone who has alcohol intake or fatty liver which is on the rise. So, there is liver screening that can be done regularly to catch cancer early and prevent it,” Arora said.