Laser technology: Pioneering work

Mr Vasant Oswal’s interest in Laser technology began in the late seventies. It culminated in the purchase of the CO2 laser in 1982, one of the very first ones in the UK. The funds for the purchase were raised by the generous donations of the people of Cleveland in the North East of England.

There was no knowledge about the tissue interaction of the laser. He carried out numerous bench experiments to assess thermal spread and collateral damage. All the experiments were recorded on video camera which was just being introduced as an attachment to the operating microscope. The original pioneering work is now on YouTube. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCBTLWo2DJM&t=944s).

Uniquely, he designed egg white demonstration. Egg white provided a biological model and also being transparent; showed a visually striking three-dimensional thermal spread of laser strike at various power settings. This enabled him to establish power settings for various surgical procedures in Laryngo-Bronchology and Oral Cavity.

He developed Laser Bronchoscopy technique which was particularly useful in improving the obstructed lower airway in terminal lung cancer cases. He developed dedicated instruments for laser surgery. With his anaesthetic colleague Dr John Hunton, he designed and developed fireproof flexible anaesthetic metal tube for laser surgery on larynx (marketed in the eighties and the nineties as ‘Oswal-Hunton Flexo-metallic Anaesthetic Tube’ by J.B. Masters).

He chaired the first British Conference in CO2 laser in Otolaryngology in 1983. He established the International Cleveland Laser Course in Middleborough, England, in 1983. The course has been conducted annually and over the years, has been instrumental in training hundreds of surgeons from near and far afield.

Global Laser Training

He also established training courses and international faculty of laser experts in Otolaryngology and conducted Laser Courses in Argentina, Belgium, India, Italy, Germany, Malaysia, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, etc. to help establishing their own courses.

Mr Oswal is a recognized world authority in Lasers in ENT. He has taken part in course and conferences as invited faculty in several locations across the five continents of the world, including (in alphabetic order): Anaheim, Agra, Ahmadabad, Antwerp, Alexandria, Amsterdam, Athens, Atlanta, Berlin, Bangalore, Bahrain, Bangkok, Brussels, Buena Saris, Cairo, Chennai, Dallas, Delhi, Edinburgh, Florence, Geneva, Glasgow, Hong Kong, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kathmandu, Kuala Lumpur, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Mumbai, Naples, New Orleans, Nice, Porto, Paris, Pattaya, Prague, Pune, Rome, Rosario, St. Petersburg, San Diego, San Hose, Sicily, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Sydney, Tarragona, Tokyo, Toronto, Venice, Vilnius and Washington.

He was awarded honorary membership of National Associations in Otolaryngology of many countries. He has published several articles in leading professional journals. He has authored and edited three major books on Lasers in Otolaryngology and H & N Surgery, which have acquired a status of reference books. He contributed chapters to books on Lasers in Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery.

He established guidelines for educational approval of Laser courses by the British Medical Laser Association. These guidelines were subsequently adopted by the European Laser Association.

Temporal bone dissection exhibits in Welcome museum at the Royal College of Surgeons, London.

He designed a novel teaching method by colouring various parts of human temporal bones showing a detailed anatomical structure of the external, middle and the inner ear. The specimens are exhibited in Welcome Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons in London for teaching purposes. They area also published by Wolfe publications in 1977 in ‘Colour Atlas of Human Anatomy’, edited by Professor McMinn and Hutchings. This enhanced teaching became a standard for teaching all future surgeons.