Renowned otolaryngologist and surgeon Pedro Clarós, full academician and vicepresident of the Governing Board of the Royal European Academy of Doctors-Barcelona 1914 (RAED), participated last October 30 in the extraordinary scientific session that the Spanish Royal National Academy of Medicine held in Madrid under the title “Nuevas perspectivas de los trastornos auditivos periféricos y centrales” (New perspectives of peripheral and central hearing disorders) with the highest scientific authorities in this area. Clarós presented his experience in cochlear implants, a technique in which he is a pioneer in Spain in the Clarós Clinic that he directs, as well as one of the surgeons with more personal experience and intervened cases.
Clarós explained how thanks to this intervention the hearing is given or returned to the profound deaf patient and how the sense of hearing has become the first sense of the human being that has been able to replace effectively and with good results. The academician stressed that the man hears with the brain and not with the ear, since this organ is only the mechanism that brings the stimuli to the brain, but it’s the brain itself that recognizes and interprets them conveniently. “The evolution of this surgical procedure has evolved dramatically in the last 30 years. It’s a scientific discovery that deserves the award of a Nobel prize that should be shared by all those who have intervened in its viability”, said Clarós.
Another part of the session was based on the advances of gene therapy in cell regeneration, with the application of growth factors in degenerated cells of the inner ear and nerve cells of the cortical ganglia. Clarós has already developed, in his doctoral thesis in Pharmacy from the University of Barcelona, his experiences and results obtained. At the moment this treatment isn’t available but predicts a near future to rescue and preserve hearing in humans.
The remaining speakers, very expert in the field, came from various parts of the world, mainly the United States, Germany and Spain. The president of the Royal National Academy of Medicine, Joaquín Poch Broto, distinguished them with the Gold Badge of the institution for his valuable collaborations in the scientific and medical world.
