Journal Reviews archive for September 2019
Death related to epistaxis
One of the commonest emergencies presenting in ENT is epistaxis. The presentation can be through accident and emergency or through ward referrals. In this national audit of epistaxis management involving 113 centres, it was noted that 33 of the 985...
Long-term voice outcomes following transoral laser surgery versus radiotherapy for early laryngeal cancers
The oncological outcomes of transoral laser microsurgery (TOLM) for early laryngeal cancers are well-known to be very similar to radiation therapy (RT). The functional outcomes associated with each treatment modality are therefore of significant interest. This study is reported to...
Centralisation of care for acoustic tumour surgeries?
Several factors are responsible for readmission after acoustic tumour removal. The authors retrospectively studied the association between hospital, patient and insurance factors with the rate of readmission following acoustic tumour removal in the United States using the Nationwide Readmission Database...
Recovery room cortisol to predict long-term glucocorticoid supplementation
The authors report the results of using recovery room (RR) cortisol to predict the need for long-term glucocorticoids in patients who underwent transsphenoidal surgery (TSS). They conducted a retrospective study of preoperative morning serum cortisol (MSC), RR cortisol and day...
Spread the therapy thick and quick to make sure it works
Speech sound disorders, such as apraxia, can negatively impact a child’s wellbeing - both their social wellbeing and their academic achievement. Traditionally speech and language therapy has attempted to remediate these difficulties using auditory feedback. More recently, advances in technology...
Long-term quality outcomes of bimaxillary surgery of obstructive sleep apnoea
This is a review of 12 patients at two years postoperatively and again at at least 17 years. Successful outcome of a decrease in apnoea-hypopnoea index (AHI) of greater than 50% was thought to be success. Eight of the initial...
The degree of barbecue rotation matters in horizontal canal BPPV
Treatment of horizontal canal BPPV (Hc-BPPV) is not without controversy due to the several repositioning manoeuvres advocated for its treatment. Among the many, barbecue rotation (Br) is perhaps the most commonly used for canalithiasis of Hc-BPPV. Should the rotation be...
Is virtual reality the future of vestibular rehabilitation?
The use of virtual reality (VR) in vestibular rehabilitation is gaining some popularity but availability is hampered by cost. One VR system in use in some centres is the Hybrid VR unit which incorporates motion trackers and force platforms. This...
Everyone has the right to say no
Despite the introduction of the Mental Capacity Act in 2005, healthcare professionals remain uncomfortable with individuals who choose not to follow medical advice - who make informed decisions to decline a treatment or management plans. This paper highlights that speech...
Children like to talk
When a health professional, including speech and language therapists, treats a child, they will often ask the parent or relative of the child for information on the issue and its impact. Yet children will frequently have an opinion on their...
