Hosted by the Department of Otolaryngology and Head & Neck Surgery of BLK-MAX Super Specialty Hospital, New Delhi, India, the 10th annual hybrid conference of the Laryngology and Voice Association (LVA) welcomed 97 delegates in person as well as the 900 who logged on remotely. The inaugural speech was delivered from the UK by Vasant Oswal*, FRCS, the Founder Chair and the Chief Patron of the LVA, who congratulated the organisers and made a plea to surgeons to participate in international conferences to showcase their progress in this developing ENT subspecialty. The LVA conferred him with its Lifetime Achievement Award, citing his contribution to laryngology in the Indian subcontinent and the Asia Pacific region by founding the Asia Pacific Laryngology Association (APLA).
The scientific programme covered the well-trodden topics of diagnostics with stroboscopy, kymography, narrow band imaging and transnasal oesophagoscopy. These were supplemented by up-to-date topics such as the increasing role of artificial intelligence in laryngology.
In addition to the usual surgical procedures for laryngeal disorders, including transoral surgery for early glottic cancers, the topics covered laryngeal framework surgery, transoral robotic surgery and current advances in the management of the airway.
The increasing role of office-based surgery, an important area of future direction to contain growing costs, was a notable diversion. The annual conference programme also included three orations, ‘Vasant and Nirmal oration,’ ‘Nilkanth and Saroj Apte oration,’ and ‘LVA oration,’ delivered by eminent otolaryngologists from India and abroad. A preconference Live Surgery Workshop on Voice, Airway and Laser took place on 18 November 2022 at Auditorium in Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi.
The popular 7th BLK-MX Voice and Laser Hands-on Workshop with Sheep Larynx and Trachea was well subscribed. The 40 attendees received practical training in thyroplasty type I, injection laryngoplasty, tracheal resection and anastomosis, CO2 laser application and stroboscopy.
The LVA encourages young otolaryngologists' participation by granting the BM Abrol Award under various categories: junior consultant session, postgraduate free paper session, poster presentations, video sessions and laryngology quiz, funded by the Late BM Abrol. The winners were as follows:
Paper presentation
- First prize: Arvind Kairo for 'Development of wearable device for health monitoring'.
- Second prize: Jameel Manzoor for 'Injection laryngoplasty as mini invasive office based surgery in patients with unilateral vocal fold paralysis: voice quality outcomes'.
Video presentation
- First prize: Shreya Srivastava for 'Modified thyroplasty type 2'.
- Second prize: Dr Suchita for 'Fat implantation in sulcus vocalis'.
Poster presentation
- First prize: Biswajit Das for 'Comparison of outcomes following vocal fold injection medilisation using two different tissue filters'.
* Globe Trotting and 62 Years of ENT by Vasant Oswal is published by Kugler Publications and available to download free (direct download).
Shreya Srivastava, Senior Resident in ENT.
