A daylong 'Live Thoracoscopic Workshop 2003', was held at the Tata Memorial Hospital on Saturday, here last week. The workshop that seen the presence of around 52 thoracic specialists from around the country was organized by the Department of Thoracic Services, Tata Memorial Hospital.

The main highlight of the seminar was the live thoracoscopic surgery performed by noted Thoracoscopic surgeon from Japan, Dr Kawahara, with assistance from Dr. Rajesh Mistry, Head of Department, Thoracic Department and Dr. S. Sharma from the Thoracic Department.

A complex Radical Thoracoscopic Lobectomy and a Thoracoscopic Lymphadenectomy were the two special cases that were reserved by the hospital staff to be performed by Dr Kawahara. While the former case is usually treated by conventional mode of surgery, Dr Kawahara performed the surgery through the Endoscopic route, which is rarely adapted in India. While its surgence in India is only one case in three years, Dr Kawahara has operated upon more than 70 patients in Japan using this technique.

According to Dr Mistry, the sole reason for such a procedure being practiced on a minor scale is due to unavailability of proper screening methods in India. "In India, the disease is diagnosed only at a later stage wherein the advantages of performing the surgery through the Endoscopic route becomes very minimal. Conventional open surgery is the only route that could be resorted too at such intervals. This is not the case in other countries and in Japan where the patients are screened at the initial stages itself, allowing the surgeons to decide on the mode of surgery to be adopted."

According to Dr. Mistry though similar results could be obtained through both the routes, the distinct advantages the Endoscopic route offers is minimum incision in the patients body thereby minimizing the risk of infection and that the patient could be discharged earlier not requiring longer hospital stay.

The surgery was well appreciated by the audience who were watching it performed live at the operation theatre from where it was relayed to the auditorium. The surgeries were followed by panel discussions and Q&A session.