CONFERENCE: Experts dwell on anaesthesia and pain management

Ludhiana, November 24, 2012: 4th National Conference of Indian College of Anesthesiologists (ICA) began today with an impressive flag-hoisting ceremony. Those present on the occasion were Dr Ved Kumra President ICA, Dr Sunil Katyal (Organising Secretary), Dr Anjan Datta (President ISA), Dr B. Radhakrishnan CEO ICA, and Dr Bhimeshwar Secy ISA, along with other dignitaries.

The first day of the conference began with scientific sessions on “Airway & CPR Issues”, “Obstetric Anesthesia & Analgesia”, “Pediatric Anesthesia”, “Bariatric Anesthesia”, “Cardiac Anesthesia”, “ Critical care”,  “Pro-Con sessions”, ‘Anesthesia for Liver Transplant” and “Perioperative medicine”.

Dr Rakesh Kumar from New Delhi delivered a lecture on rational use of ‘Multiple airway devices’ followed by recent advances in the ‘Role of hypothermia in post cardiac arrest care’ by Dr Prabhat Tewari from Lucknow and ‘Extubation strategies in a known difficult airway’ by Dr. Ashima Sharma from Hyderabad.

 The speakers during the session on “Obstetric Anaesthesia & Analgesia” include Dr. Anjan Trikha from New Delhi, Dr Kajal Jain from Chandigarh and Dr Shikha Gupta and Dr Ranjit Verma from Derby, UK. Dr Ranjit Verma stressed on th importance of revalidation of doctors every 2-5 years so they can update their skills and knowledge and deliver quality safe care. Recent advances in the field of Labor epidural analgesia and management of major obstetric emergencies were discussed in detail.

 A panel discussion was also held on the topic ‘Best Anesthetic technique for an elderly patient with severe Ischemic heart disease undergoing Hemi- / Total hip Arthroplasty’. Dr Sunil Kumar, moderated the session which included eminent panelists: Dr Surinder Sharma and Dr PN Kakkar from New Delhi, Dr Naved Aslam  from HDHI, Ludhiana, , Dr Indu Sen from PGI Chandigarh and Dr Veena Valecha from Amritsar.

 In session on ‘Bariatric Anesthesia’ Dr Raminder Sehgal from New Delhi and Dr Ranjit Verma from UK discussed that the risks imposed by obese patients during weight-loss surgery. Patients presenting for bariatric surgery should be evaluated for difficult airway, risk of thromboembolism, systemic hypertension, pulmonary hypertension, signs of right and/or left ventricular failure, and ischemic heart disease. They deliberated on various measures that should be undertaken to optimize the patient’s cardiorespiratory status throughout the perioperative period.

An interesting Pro-Con session was held wherein Dr Naveen Malhotra from Rohtak, Dr S. Palta from Chandigarh, Dr Rakesh Garg from Delhi and Dr Ajay Sood from Shimla participated in an interactive debate.

The highlight of the day was the felicitation of Dr Vijay Vohra from Delhi commemorating his contribution to 1000th anaesthesia for liver transplant procedures. He also deliberated on anaesthetic concerns and management of a patient for Liver Transplant anaesthesia.

Other eminent national stalwarts who delivered talks were Dr RK Batra (AIIMS Delhi), Dr SK Malhotra (PGI Chandigarh), Dr Nandita Mehta (jammu), Dr Ranju Singh (Delhi), Dr Sumit Ray and Dr Anjali Kocchar (Delhi).

The first day of the conference concluded with session on ‘Cardiac Anaesthesia’ and the speakers include Dr K Muralidhar from Banglaore, Dr Mukul Kapoor from New Delhi and Dr VK Arya from Chandigarh.

The conference will be formally inaugurated today evening by State Cabinet Minister Bikram Singh Majithia at Hotel Aveda, Hambran Road.