This year’s LION video conference involved 28 surgeons from over a dozen centers: from Poland, Belgium, Sweden, Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Portugal, Turkey, Spain, Switzerland, Australia and the United States. 45 operations were presented in the field of: otosclerosis treatment, ossiculoplasty, cholesteatoma, middle ear implants, bone conduction implants, cochlear implants and neurotology.
Two operations performed by prof. Henryk Skarżyński were broadcasted from the World Hearing Center: the implantation of the cochlear implant in a patient with partial deafness (Med-El Flex electrode) and reconstruction of the auditory ossicles using glass ionomer cement.
The goal of LION project (initiated in 2006) is to use the latest teleconferencing technologies to continually educate physicians from otolaryngologists around the world. The LION operates as permanent interactive global training network that provides direct access to the knowledge and experience of international otology and neurotology experts to any physician who has a computer and Internet access. The key element of this program is annual videoconference with the participation of otosurgeons representing leading centers around the world.
Each edition of the conference is watched by tens of thousands of participants in conference rooms at hospitals and medical universities around the world. Also in the modern teleconference studio of the World Hearing Center in Kajetany it is possible to see the demonstration operations broadcast from leading world centers. Participants also have the opportunity to attend the discussions and ask questions to surgeons presenting individual operational techniques.