Students witness rare parotid surgery

Vadodara: Students of masters of head and neck surgery of Baroda Medical College had a rare opportunity of witnessing a parotid surgery performed by its alumnus of 50 years on Thursday.
As a part of pre-event of World Congress 2019 organized by the Medical College Baroda Alumni Association, Dr Jatin Shah, who has an expertise in the surgical treatment of benign and malignant tumours in the head and neck area, operated on a patient at the SSG Hospital which was witnessed by the students over a webcast. The patient had developed a benign parotid gland tumour.

“Surgery can only be taught on site, it cannot be learnt through books,” said Shah, who visits the city periodically. Shah completed his MBBS and MS from Baroda Medical College in 1960s.

“It was an important operation and the crucial part of it was to preserve the nerve that controls facial expressions. The nerve is responsible for smile, expression of emotions, closing eyes or even kissing a loved one and the tumour was sitting over the nerve,” he said, adding, “During the surgery it is not only important to protect the nerve, but also prevent blood loss.”

Shah said that the patient would have lost more blood during pre-operating tests rather than during the surgery.

While Shah was performing the surgery in the ENT operation theatre, his colleague from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York – Dr Ashok Shaha – was moderating the session of the webcast. Shaha, who is also the alumnus of the same department, answered the queries of the students who were witnessing the surgery.

Head of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology Dr Ranjan Aiyer said that Shah will also be speaking to students and other doctors on various topics on Friday.