Device to protect larynx during surgery gets patent
Times of India | 26 February 2024
Kolkata: Three ENT doctors at state-run Medical College Hospital Kolkata (MCHK) have developed an innovative device that can help in conducting micro laryngeal surgeries. The device — laryngeal stabiliser — has been clinically tried and has also got a patent from the Govt of India’s patent office.
Micro laryngeal surgery is a procedure for removal of polyp, cyst or tumour from the vocal cord.With the advent of good quality microscopes, doctors now try to preserve the anatomical structure of the vocal cord so that patients continue to have a quality voice after the surgery. For this the procure has to be precise.
“For precise operation, proper and stable exposure of surgical site for desired duration is very much essential,” said ENT professor Sudip Das of MCHK who developed the device along with doctors Malabika Mitra and Pritam Chatterjee.
ENT surgeons have to enter the voice box (larynx) with the help of laryngoscope, which is a metallic hollow tubular instrument to visualise vocal cords through this laryngoscope.
“This view is magnified under microscope, which is essential for delicate operation. After proper visualisation of the vocal cords where the lesion is present, we do surgery — micro and sometimes with laser,” said Das.
On an average such procedures take 45 minutes to an hour. The practice so far is an assistant giving manual pressure over the larynx using fingers so that the surgeon can see the vocal cord. Doctors said in cases when the exposure of the vocal is poor the precision becomes difficult to achieve.
“It is practically impossible to maintain uniform pressure when it is done manually with help of an assistant,” added Das. The laryngeal stabiliser solves this problem by giving desired pressure only on the selected area making the operation site exposed properly while the exposure is uniform during the procedure.
It had undergone trial at the state-run medical college’s ENT department. Consent from 50 patients were taken before the use of this device. The patients were between 18 and 70 years of age who had vocal cord lesions.
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