November 19, 2011
School of Medicine, Kochi
The 20th Annual Conference of the Indian Society of Otology, ISOCON 2011, was hosted at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences during November 11-13, 2011.
The conference was organized by the Cochin Chapter of the Association of Otolaryngologists of India (AOI) and the Cochin Society of Otolaryngologists for Medical Services (CSOM).
Nearly eight hundred delegates from all over India attended the conference.
Inaugurating the conference, the Honorable Union Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, Mr. K. V. Thomas, noted, “ENT specialization in India is on par with developed countries. We now have the most advanced techniques for the treatment of ear, nose and throat disorders.”
The three-day academic event covered a variety of theoretical and practical aspects of otology, the branch of ENT that deals with diseases involving the ear.
Distinguished speakers included otolaryngologists Dr. Shakeel Rias Saeed from United Kingdom, Dr. Abdel Aziz Belal from Egypt, Dr. Bruno Frachet and Dr. Alain Robier from France.
Academic sessions on the first day included talks by faculty and a panel discussion on tympanoplasty.
The next two days saw a host of live surgeries performed by experts. Surgical procedures such as tympanoplasties, mastoidectomies, stapedectomies, cochlear implantation and glomus tympanicum excision were demonstrated.
State-of-the-art facilities in audio-video transmission were available to relay the surgeries, which were performed in two operation theatres, to the audience in the hall. This enhanced active discussion and interaction between the audience and the surgeons.
“It has been a privilege to be part of ISOCON 2011 and to operate here at Amrita,” remarked Dr. Shakeel Rias Saeed, the renowned otolaryngologist from UK.
Competitive events including poster presentation and temporal bone dissection were organized for postgraduate students.
Expressing his appreciation for the Amrita hosting team, founding member of ISOCON, Dr. K. K. Ramalingam stated, “It was wonderful to be a part of this year’s ISOCON in such a grand ambience.”
The conference imparted continuing medical education in the well-established, yet ever-changing, field of otology.
