MKRMS seminar: Pollution behind rising ENT infections, say experts

LAHORE: Medical experts have identified environmental and noise pollution as major reasons for increase in ear, nose and throat infections among people.

The medical experts were speaking at a roundtable conference on “The 21st century and latest treatment of ENT diseases” organized by the Mir Khalil-ur-Rahman Memorial Society (Jang Group of Newspapers) at a local hotel on Thursday. Renowned ENT specialist Dr Nasrullah Rana said that ear, nose and throat diseases were on the rise in Pakistan due to growing air and noise pollution. Dr Nasrullah Rana is a SAARC ENT gold medalist, founding member and former General Secretary of Pakistan Society of ENT Surgeons, former Secretary General SAARC ENT Conference, former Vice President of SAARC ENT Surgeons Association, Fellow Member of American Academy ORL, Washington DC, former ENT Consultant/Surgeon Mayo Hospital/King Edward Medical University, Lahore.

Dr Nasrullah Rana said that there were a lot of complaints regarding continuous noise in the ear, which was easily treatable with the latest masking device. He said that the excessive use of mobile phones and hands-free were causing deafness and tinnitus among the users. He said that there should be no stigma in using cochlear implants as in the use of glasses.

He said that laser surgical treatment also helps treatment voice or sound in order to recover speech disturbance among patients. Laser surgery is also a treatment of chronic nose bleeding, he added. He said that the growth of nose bone and falling of sputum in throat was greatly affecting human health, which was increasing incidences of asthma among the patients. He said that operation for abnormal growth of the nose bone was possible in paediatric patients, saying that child patients don’t need to wait till reaching the age of 18 to conduct the operation.

He said that nose operation has become quite easy due to laser surgery, which is a revolutionary advancement of 21st century. He said that tonsils were quite common among children of school going age, which might cause grave complications like ear secretion, deafness, joint pains and heart diseases.

“The tonsils can also affect the growth and height of the children,” he said, adding that a minor operation to remove tonsils could permanently cure this abnormal growth in throat, which saves the child from using medicines time and again.

He further said that nose’s shape could also be improved through cosmetic surgery, which not just enhanced the outlook of a person but also cured breathlessness. He said that newborn child’s hearing ability must be checked immediately and if deafness appeared then an hearing aid should be fixed immediately. The cochlear implant is also very effective among young and old-age patients. He said the ear membrane could be implanted through a minor operation. Similarly, he said, the cochlear implant is available in the form of a chip that can be fixed under the skin behind the ear, which remains invisible.

He said that ear wax was a natural defence system of the ear, saying that it should not be removed with cotton bud, matchstick or a key, which might also damage the ear membrane. He said that nose allergy was rising due to environmental pollution and the treatment to cure nose allergy required patience because of treatment that continues for a long period of time. He said that the nose glands could also be removed with a latest surgical procedure called FESS, which permanently cures the patient of nose blockage. MKRMS Chairman Wasif Nagi conducted the roundtable conference.