Managing Mucormycosis: A Stepladder Approach (2023 AMW) Session
2023 AAO-HNSF Annual Meeting & OTO Experience
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Sinonasal mucormycosis is a deadly disease which can lead to a lethal outcome if not treated promptly and correctly.Although the presenters were already managing the disease at their own respective hospitals , during the pandemic of COVID , the numbers of the mucormycosis patients became manyfold in a very short span of time.The huge number of patients started draining the surgical and medical resources at such a speed that the existing infrastructre was not able to support. Admist those tough times the presenters found an opportunity to observe and manage a large number of patients and thus make their treatment protocols more cost effective and practical.In this symposium we intend to pool the knowledge of all these experts and present before the audience a comprehensive and step wise approach to this deadly disease.The audience can expect a complete overview of sinonasal mucormycosis from clinical symptoms to diagnosis and to the adequate management.OUTCOME OBJECTIVE 1: understand the behaviour of the disease(mucormycosis), the risk factors ,when and how to suspect and how to diagnose promptly and the investigations requiredOUTCOME OBJECTIVE 2: manage the patients of mucourmycosis correctly , ethically and cost effectively . Considering the multi modality treatemnt of the disease the treating physcian must take correct decisions about the surgery (timing and the type) , and the medical management (intravenous as well as oral).OUTCOME OBJECTIVE 3: recognize that patients and familes of mucourmycosis patients require support at multiple levels as the disease and the treatment can drain them physically , mentally , emotionally and financially. Hence a wise and emphatatic appraoch is required on the part of the treating physicianBACKGROUND STATEMENT: With limited resources during the COVID pandemic the presenters tried best to manage a very large number of mucormycosis patients to the best of their understanding and skills. During this we learnt a lot about disease behaviour and its effective and prompt management, which we want to share.