Journal Reviews archive for May 2022
Complications associated with intra-tympanic steroid injections for sudden sensorineural hearing loss
Around 15,000 people in the UK experience a sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) each year, and in the majority of cases the cause is unknown. Treatment options for idiopathic SSNHL include various modalities of steroid treatments which have known limitations...
Age is not an issue in sinus surgery
We have an increasingly aged population, and hence older and older patients are presenting with sinonasal issues and the potential need for endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS). The authors sought to identify if older patients (age >70) have more complications post...
Impact of delaying otologic surgery
In this Belgian study, the authors looked at the impact of delaying otologic surgery by sending an online survey to 44 adult patients diagnosed with benign ear pathology whose surgery was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The questionnaire was...
Eosinophilic or not eosinophilic: dupilumab seems to work
Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) is a type 2 inflammation with interleukin (IL)-4, IL-13, and IL-5. Tissue eosinophilia in nasal polyps dramatically increased over a 10-20-year period. Classification of the severity of eosinophil status is expected to lead to...
Training people with Parkinson’s disease and their partners to have better conversations
Parkinson’s disease is predominantly considered a motor disorder, impacting speech, particularly voice volume, amongst other physical functions. Language and cognitive difficulties, such as difficulties in word finding and social pragmatics are also a key feature of Parkinson’s disease. Given the...
A more comprehensive management for eosinophilic chronic rhinosinusitis after FESS
In recent years there has been increasing recognition of eosinophilic chronic rhinosinusitis which, in particular, results in persistent symptoms and recurrence of nasal polyps, even after FESS surgery. It therefore calls for measures adjuvant to FESS to stop persistence of...
Molecular and genetic nature of skull base tumours drives management
This article reviews the molecular basis and paradigm shift in the diagnosis and management of skull base tumours. It is now known that the phenotype of meningiomas is influenced by their genotype. Endolymphatic sac tumours are observed in up to...
How can we manage children with poor speech discrimination but with normal audiogram
We often come across children and young adults brought in for consultation for suspected hearing loss and having hearing difficulty in noisy backgrounds but who often have normal audiograms. Such patients are suspected to have auditory neuropathy. The term auditory...
Does vestibular rehabilitation help patients with vestibular migraine? Is this also true if these patients have had a traumatic brain injury?
Vestibular migraine (VM) is a common diagnosis in ENT, and there is growing evidence that vestibular rehabilitation therapy (VRT) is an effective treatment, reducing self-perceived dizziness and improving gait. This is a retrospective review of the outcomes of 93 patients...
Sinonasal inverting papilloma and HPV - a meta-analysis of recurrent tumours
Sinonasal inverting papilloma (SNIP) is a common benign tumour of the sinuses. Difficulty lies in the association with metachronous or synchronous SCC of the sinus and also in the complete removal of the lesions due to their anatomical location. An...
Not as rare as we think? Silent sinus syndrome incidence on CT heads
It is relatively uncommon to come across a case of silent sinus syndrome (SSS), but not as rare as the prevalence in the literature might suggest – the authors of this study note that only 100 cases are reported in...
Impedance for different electrode types
Measuring cochlear implant (CI) electrode impedances is common in CI programming appointments to measure the integrity of the implant e.g. whether there are any open or short electrodes. This is because impedance measures the flow of current between intra and...
