Journal Reviews archive for January 2023
Liver function assessment in glandular fever
This month’s Editors’ Choice is a systematic review of the role of liver assessment in patients with glandular fever. Admission of patients with sore throat constitutes a significant burden of acute work for paediatric and adult ENT services as well...
Diagnostic features of acute invasive fungal sinusitis
Acute invasive fungal sinusitis (AIFS) is a rare but frequently lethal condition, commonly associated with a high morbidity among those that survive. It has gained recent media attention on account of its increased incidence following infection with (and treatment for)...
Blood-sampling prognostic predictors for Bell’s palsy
Bell’s palsy is generally defined as an acute-onset unilateral idiopathic mononeuropathy in the facial nerve. It is of unknown aetiology, however, inflammation is considered a major cause. Electroneurography assessing nerve excitability is the most reliable examination for predicting prognosis of...
Measurement of HINTS in peripheral vestibulopathy
Dizziness; Head impulse test; Nystagmus; Skew deviation; Vertigo.
Balloon eustachian tuboplasty and inferior turbinectomy
This Taiwanese prospective case-control study looked at concurrent inferior turbinectomy (via submucosal turbinectomy) and balloon eustachian tuboplasty on symptoms related to eustachian tube dysfunction. A total of 50 patients who underwent inferior turbinectomy with balloon eustachian tuboplasty were recruited prospectively...
How common is dysphonia and dysphagia after cardiac surgery?
Patients undergoing cardiac surgeries, such as coronary artery bypass (CABG) and valve operations, are usually informed that there may be some risk of laryngeal complications that could result in a dysphonia or dysphagia. This may be due to factors including...
Low-frequency air-bone gaps appear to be a true audiological finding in Ménière’s disease
There is a lack of established objective tests in Ménière’s disease (MD) that can provide information about the disease process. The appearance of low-frequency air-bone gaps (LFABGs) in MD is a recognised but unexplored phenomenon. Two theories have been suggested...
Hyaluronic acid injection laryngoplasty
This systematic review discusses the use of hyaluronic acid in injection laryngoplasties. Unilateral vocal cord paralysis leads to incomplete vocal fold adduction and dysphonia. For patients not improving with voice therapy, surgical procedures include injection laryngoplasty or open laryngeal framework...
Endolymphatic sac tumours
The authors performed a systematic review of literature and describe the clinical signs and symptoms of endolymphatic sac tumours (ELST) in this article. A total of 113 patients and 118 cases from 26 studies were included in the study. The...
Small but significant
These authors try to circumnavigate the conundrum of what is influenced by what. For something so small, the impact of the Stria Vascularis cannot be understated. The difficulty in reviewing the influence of loop diuretics or aminoglycosides on the Stria...
Video otoscopy
The COVID-19 pandemic and challenges in offering health services at the time showed how useful telehealth services can be. One of the undoubted benefits of video otoscopy is that both images and recordings can be sent to specialists for assessments....
Sing it, say it, sort it: singing for Parkinson’s disease
Parkinson’s disease (PD) occurs in 1% of the population aged over 60. Changes in voice and speech are among the earliest and most prevalent symptoms of PD; reduced vocal intensity, monopitch, monoloudness, breathy and hoarse voice quality, imprecise articulation, vocal...
