Surgical Oncology – Evidence & Practice
This was a two day conference with the aim of spreading awareness about latest surgical techniques in the management of cancer. Both days of the scientific programme were dedicated to multidisciplinary sessions involving medical personnel, clinical oncologists, radiation oncologists, basic scientists, oncology nurses and oncological surgeons.
There were a total of 26 pre-conference workshops & symposiums. These were mostly hands-on skills training workshops focusing on the post-graduate residents and giving them a chance for close faculty interaction. Eminent international (24) and national (62) faculty were invited as guest speakers.
This year, the European Society of Surgical Oncology (ESSO) & American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) were the main collaborating proud partners of this conference. The scientific programme comprised of two plenary sessions and one combined AKU, ESSO & ASCO session.
A total of about 720 surgeons, residents, medical students & nurses registered for the conference and it’s various workshops. All participants and the international faculty spoke very high of our organizational ability and scientific content. They were all praises for our university.
Neurovascular Course
The management of cerebrovascular neurosurgical diseases in Pakistan still haunts most neurosurgeons. This is primarily related to limited surgical exposure due to unavailability of high volume centres and because of the high complexity and morbidity, surgical management of neurovascular diseases is considered a difficult task.
In the West, this problem was primarily solved by animal / cadaveric skills lab and hands-on courses. With this background in mind, an initiative was taken by the Section of Neurosurgery, AKUH for the young neurosurgeons under training in Pakistan.
This hand-on neurovascular course was devised similar to the famous international courses conducted by master trainers like Professor Yasirgil and Rosemary Frick. Here it must be mentioned that the first such course organised by AKUH was almost a decade ago, conducted by Rosemarie Frick and Nadia Khan. This year too, Professor Nadia Khan, European Cerebrovascular Neurosurgeon and a trainer herself, conducted this course as one of the pre-congress workshops for the Annual Surgery Conference. The two-days course was co-ordinated by Dr. Saad Akhtar Khan with guidance from Dr. Ehsan Bari and Dr. Shahzad Shamim.
It became an immediate success among the attendees because all trainees were provided an opportunity to hone their microsurgical skills required for neurovascular surgery. Chicken wings were used as animal model and advanced operating microscopes were available for all participants.
The long term plan is to conduct this workshop every year and try making this an international course with its own educational grant.