ENT features
Hypoglossal nerve stimulation for OSA: current experience with unilateral versus bilateral systems
Hypoglossal nerve stimulation (HNS) has emerged as an established treatment option for selected patients with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) who are intolerant to continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). Over the past decade, technological developments have expanded the field from unilateral...
Denis Collings: 38 years as a total laryngectomee
Patients’ perspectives can be very powerful in our understanding of their experience of illness and its treatment. Denis Collings. In the UK, there are more than 2000 new cases of laryngeal cancer each year [1]. In 1988, at the age...
Video-augmented consent in thyroid surgery
Short, procedure-specific thyroid surgery videos improve patient understanding, standardise risk discussions and support informed consent. Background Informed consent is an important principle which underpins modern surgical practice. Patients are given information regarding their medical condition, discussion of the proposed treatment,...
Between sirens and silence: the burden on otorhinolaryngologists in wartime Ukraine
Ukrainian ENT teams continue life-saving and routine care under air raid alerts, with staff shortages, strained resources and the long psychological toll of war. War reshapes medicine long before it destroys hospitals. It alters the rhythm of clinical work, the...
Laryngotracheal stenosis and malacia care
Why laryngotracheal stenosis and malacia (LTSM) care matters now? In late 2019, reports began to emerge of severe respiratory infections caused by a novel coronavirus. In the months that followed, intensive care admissions in the UK rose more than tenfold....
Liquid gold – platelet-rich plasma glottic injections in vocal pathology
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is being used in an increasing number of ENT conditions, with particular promise in the larynx. Voice is a defining human characteristic. The ability to communicate with one another and to use the vocal folds (VFs) for...
OBITUARY: Emeritus Professor Adrian John Fourcin (30/8/1927 - 10/4/2026)
Adrian John Fourcin. Adrian John Fourcin was born on 30 August 1927 in Primrose Hill, London. His father Victor was a French confectioner, a hobby that, together with joinery, Adrian enjoyed passionately alongside his lifelong interest in speech and hearing....
OBITUARY: Professor Carel Dirk August Verwoerd (1936–2026): Founding father of the European Society of Paediatric Otorhinolaryngology
Professor Dr Carel Dirk August Verwoerd. Professor Dr Carel Dirk August (Carel) Verwoerd was a driving force in the development of paediatric otorhinolaryngology in Europe. As a founding member of the European Society of Paediatric Otolaryngology (ESPO) in 1994, he...
The Journal of the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa (JCMSA): a model for sharing research from low- and middle-income countries
A new open-access journal from South Africa offers a sustainable model to amplify research from low- and middle-income countries and rebalance global health knowledge. More than 80% of the world’s population lives in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Yet high-income...
Pioneering in simulation surgery
Plastic temporal bones transformed ear surgery training, letting trainees practise complex procedures safely before operating on patients. I attended the Stell and Maran’s surgical course in the early 70s. It was superb but, with the confidence of naivety, I thought...
GIRFT: improving ENT care through standardised clinical pathways
Clinical pathways can help to ensure consistency of approach and efficient use of resources. We hear about new developments in the UK. Variation in ENT care In today’s data-driven healthcare landscape, significant variation persists in the provision of ENT services...
Making the case for multidisciplinary ENT vasculitis clinics
How can combined ENT vasculitis clinics improve diagnosis, treatment and ongoing care for patients with AAV? This article outlines a multidisciplinary approach. Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitides (AAV) are a group of rare autoimmune conditions characterised by inflammation of small-...
