Kerala

ENT, then and now

Very few specialties have grown so enormously in the past few decades as the specialty of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, or ENT to the common man. From just being a “tonsil and cough and cold specialist”, the field has grown enormously in the last few years bringing cutting edge technology to medicine and finding miraculous cures for serious, hitherto untreatable conditions. The new generation of ENT surgeons has conquered new frontiers in the management of disease, often going where even the bravest fear to tread.

The most apt example of this is the quest for the cure of deafness, which has vexed scientists for long. These days, most forms of deafness could be corrected and if done early enough, the results can be quite positive. Cochlear implants, bone anchored hearing aids, middle ear implants, implantable hearing aids aren’t just fancy terms, but real technology for real people with proven benefit and cost-effectiveness. Kerala also has one of India’s largest cochlear implant centers, proof that advanced technology is here to stay.

Treatment of allergy and sinusitis has reached such levels of excellence that no one need suffer from running noses, blocked airways and foul breath. Many people suffer from voice disorders and modern Voice Labs are equipped with extraordinary instruments to look at your vocal cords in slow motion, and precisely define treatment methods. Surgery for voice disorders is a specialty by itself and is blooming all over the country.

ENT surgeons have even ventured into the skull base, known as the most inaccessible part of the human body and have also developed micro surgical techniques to treat cancer of the head and neck and repair of complex defects, hitherto unmanageable. The real evidence of this dynamic new specialty is the growing number of young bright students opting for this as a sound future, an unthinkable thought just a few years ago.

Dr. M.P. Manoj, (M.S).,

Managing Director,

Head of Cochlear Implant

Unit & Head and Neck

Cancer Surgery,

Dr. Manoj’s ENT Super

Speciality Institute &

Research Centre

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