Message from Our Chair
4th World Congress on Endoscopic Ear Surgery
Chair
Prof. Seiji Kakehata
I am honored to serve as the Chair of the 4th World Congress on Endoscopic Ear Surgery which will be held in Kyoto Japan in 2021 with a satellite symposium to be held in Yamagata Japan. I consider myself to be acting not only as a representative of Japan, but as a representation of Asia in its entirety.
We chose Kyoto as our location because Kyoto in April should be awash with cherry blossoms, and no matter what the season, Kyoto is a top destination for international visitors with its long history and stunning sites. We will also be holding a satellite seminar in Yamagata Japan where my staff and I have been performing TEES for close to ten years. Yamagata will offer attendees to take in another side of Japan with its mountains and hot springs.
I would like to make a 4th Congress a chance to not only look forward to the future but also look back to the past. We shall honor the past by showcasing the work of three pioneers of endoscopic ear surgery: Dr. Yasuya Nomura; Dr. Naoaki Yanagihara; and Dr. Livio Presutti. Dr. Nomura pioneered the use of the otoendoscope to get a better view of the internal anatomy of ear in the pre-digital age. Dr. Yanagihara, who is actually best known for his development of the Yanagihara scale for evaluating facial nerve palsy, also incorporated the endoscope into a microscopic canal wall up tympanoplasty for removal of middle ear cholesteatomas. Our third honoree is Dr. Presutti who has extended the reach of endoscopic ear surgery to the skull base and he is still very much involved in the ongoing development of endoscopic ear surgery.
We shall also look into the future at the 4th Congress and some of the topics which will be included are heads-up surgery, the exoscope, robotics and numerous improvements to current surgical techniques. However, due to the rapid growth and development of endoscopic ear surgery, I cannot say with certainty what will be on the schedule of the 4th World Congress on Endoscopic Ear Surgery, because I am confident that the next two years will see unimagined innovations that have yet to emerge.
However, I can promise that we will hold a Congress in Japan that honors the past while introducing the future!
Thank you.
Jun. 13, 2019