Little sunshine to keep bones healthy

If there is a small lesion in a person, who is asymptomatic, you have to confirm through a biopsy. If it is a small cancer restricted to one area, without spreading, it has an excellent prognosis of more than 80 per cent. Treatment is going to be surgery or partial lobectomy, in order to completely remove the tumour. Depending on pathology report, he may nor not may not need chemotherapy or radiation. However, you also need to evaluate co-morbidities like hypertension and diabetes. If the person is not fit for surgery, the other option is radio surgery, where you give high dose of radiation to the tumour, but it does not produce the same result as surgery. It is more or less equivalent. The recovery rates are high for the first stage. — Dr Anitha Ramesh, Head, Oncology, Saveetha Medical College and Hospitals

Yes, it is common in India, though we don’t have any specific Indian studies. Among women, after menopause, there is a rapid drop in oestrogen levels, which leads to a decline in bone health. This is also called post-menopausal osteoporosis. When we don’t get enough exposure to sunlight, we deprive our body of the essential component which produces Vitamin D. We can make up for it by exposing our hands, feet and face to the sun between 1pm and 3pm for 45 minutes. — Dr Deen Mohammad Ismail, Professor of Orthopaedics and Director, Institute of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Madras Medical College