Sophie CAUJOLLE & Felix FLEISCHHAUER
10th of April
On Monday the 10th of April were Sophie and Felix invited by one of the UBAPHODESA partners, Mr. Taran Tatla, to join for a full day in the Medical Research Innovation & Excellence in Surgical Training – Multidisciplinary Laser Course.
The course was organized by Mr. Taran Tatla in cooperation with Northwick Park Hospital and was designed for ongoing Head & Neck surgeons to learn about the usage and dangers of lasers during surgery and for them to try operating a laser in a surgical environment. The day consisted of half a day lectures from skilled laser surgeons in different ENT procedures and applications.
Lectures covered ENT applications:
- Laser use in the Airway for Benign Disease
- Laser use in Pharyngeal and Laryngeal Malignancies
- Laser use in the Oral cavity
- Laser use in Otology
- Laser use for Snoring, OSA, and Benign UADT lesions
The lectures also included a talk by Mr. Vasant H. Oswal, the first Head & Neck surgeon buying and using a laser in the United Kingdom. Mr. Vasant H. Oswal presented “Transoral Laser Surgery in the UK: A 30 year Reflection”. It was a very interesting talk about the beginnings of laser usage in Head & Neck and the struggles on which parameters have to be used for optimal results in surgery.
In the afternoon were all course participants allowed to join for practical demonstrations of different laser types, commonly used in Head & Neck surgeries, and different surgeries supported by lasers. The different lasers covered were KTP, Diode and laser.
The main aim of lasers in these surgeries is to ablate, vaporize and coagulate and use significant higher power settings then lasers used for imaging, nevertheless was it very interesting to see how lasers are used in medical applications and what the end users have for necessities and demands from a medical laser device.
We would like to thank Mr. Taran Tatla for the kind invitation to this course, we also would like to thank all the speakers for enlighten us in the laser use in Head & neck surgeries. We have learned and experienced a lot.