Journal Reviews
Systemic steroids for sensorineural hearing loss
This Japanese retrospective study looked at whether the dosage of prednisolone affects the response rate in patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss. The authors included a total of 159 patients over a 14-year period who were treated with 200mg/day...
mAXIS stapes prosthesis
Since Shea’s first description of stapes mobilisation procedure, improvements in the technique have resulted in the development of alloplastic stapes prosthesis. The authors prospectively conducted a single-centre study to determine the safety and efficacy of the MED-EL mAXIS stapes prosthesis...
Safety factors in use of balloon tuboplasty
Various medications used to restore eustachian tube function have unpredictable results and these are often disappointing. Balloon dilatation of eustachian tube came around 2010 but has not really gained momentum, mainly due to apprehended complications. In this review article, the...
Decreased paediatric myringotomy and insertion of ventilation tube rates during Covid 2019 pandemic
This study involves a province in Canada and claims that the need for paediatric myringotomy and insertion of grommets reduced to a third with public health measures aimed at reducing transmission of respiratory viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, in the Covid-19 pandemic....
How can we treat a patient with aural fullness?
Aural fullness is a common complaint that we often come across in many of our otology patients. Management of this condition can be quite challenging. Common differentials include eustachian tube dysfunction, patulous eustachian tube dysfunction, otitic barotrauma, superior canal dehiscence...
Are we now safe at work?
Fifty years is a long time, yet the years pass in a blink of an eye. Where are we in comparison to where we were then, in terms of the occupational protection from noise exposure and ototoxicity, other than being...
All present and correct
You have ear protection, but are you using it properly? What are the risks over time? The design of standard earplugs has changed a lot in a decade. Earplug attenuation did reduce over time but still remained safe, however the...
Lost and sound: exploring hyperbaric oxygen therapy for refractory SSNHL
Can hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) offer a breakthrough for patients with refractory sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL)? SSNHL is defined as acute hearing loss of ≥30 decibels in three consecutive frequencies within three days. Typically, it’s treated with two weeks...
Acute mastoiditis pre- and post-Covid-19 pandemic
This retrospective single centre study evaluated the influence of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) like use of face masks, hand hygiene, and contact restrictions on the incidence and severity of acute mastoiditis during the Covid-19 pandemic. The study collected data of acute...
Ageing Ears
How do our ears show our age? We are all aware of the concept of presbycusis and a plethora of other events that impact our hearing over the passage of time. We are familiar with the standard subjective testing, though...
What type of sensitivity?
It is true that the different types of decreased sound tolerance conditions are, in general, poorly defined and the lines between them blurry. Hyperacusis? Loudness recruitment? Misophonia? Phonophobia? Sensory overload in noise? This paper aims to provide reference data for...
Postoperative ultrasound surveillance in patients undergoing hemithyroidectomy
Hemithyroidectomy, as opposed to total thyroidectomy with radioiodine remnant ablation, is now increasingly undertaken for low-risk, differentiated thyroid cancer. If on histology, this proves ‘high risk’, completion thyroidectomy is done fairly soon. In this retrospective study, a total of 105...
