Journal Reviews archive for November 2014
Supplementing intranasal cortical steroids with montelukast: does it help?
Intranasal steroids are widely used in the treatment of allergic rhinitis. Whether or not the addition of montelukast helps was assessed in this study. This was a single centre prospective randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial of two groups of patients, one...
Lower respiratory involvement in allergic rhinitis and chronic sinusitis
The recent ARIA (Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma) project has generated interest in simultaneous involvement of the lower respiratory airway in cases of chronic rhinosinusitis and allergic rhinitis. This study takes into account the extent of pulmonary function...
Nasolabial flap to reconstruct periorbital defects
The authors present a series of 25, mainly geriatric patients that had ablative surgery with complex defects in the paranasal and orbital regions. The paranasal and periorbital regions are extremely important for facial aesthetics and quality of life. The authors...
The many uses of human amnion
Human amnion has historically been the focus of much myth and superstition. To be born with the ‘caul’ intact was considered lucky and the caul was often manufactured into clothing. In 1910 foetal membranes were first used in skin transplantation...
Coupler microvascular anastomoses: how good?
This paper is written by a group of reconstructive surgeons and a school of computing. The study used computational fluid dynamics to model blood flow through idealised sutured and coupled vessels, to investigate if differing anastomotic techniques affect intravascular blood...
Harvesting the flexor hallucis longus: what is the increased morbidity?
The free fibula flap is now widely used in clinical applications for microvascular reconstruction and occasionally, to add bulk, the flexor hallucis longus (FHL) muscle is harvested along with the fibula. The post-operative morbidity is usually described as mild and...
Is auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder a disorder of the whole eighth cranial nerve?
Auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD) is now well recognised in audiological circles. Vestibular nerve function has not been extensively studied in ANSD. The authors used cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potential (cVEMP) and caloric tests to assess the integrity of the...
Paediatric pain control post-tonsillectomy
The use of codeine in the paediatric population is widely debated since the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published warnings regarding overdose and death following the usage of codeine. Codeine is metabolised by the polymorphic cytochrome PY4502D6 (CYP2D6) in...
Malignant craniopharyngiomas
Craniopharyngiomas are successfully managed with surgery and / or adjuvant chemoradiotherapy. The transnasal endoscopic route has become increasingly utilised in the management of these challenging tumours. This paper reviews 23 cases from the literature of the rarely reported malignant transformation....
Endovascular management of cavernous and paraclinoid aneurysms
This review discusses management of aneurysms arising from the internal carotid artery from the entrance into the cavernous sinus until just before the take off of the posterior communicating artery. Whilst paraclinoid aneurysms do not tend to have ENT presentations,...
Resection margins in head and neck surgery
Although an increasing proportion of head and neck malignancies are treated with non-surgical modalities, when surgery is undertaken an incomplete clearance results in significantly worse prognosis. However, the intraoperative assessment of an adequate margin is difficult. The personal practice of...
Hyoid bone interposition graft in treatment of laryngotracheal stenosis
Laryngotracheal stenosis remains a challenging condition to manage, with treatment options plagued by either high rates of recurrence or excessive morbidity. The authors describe two cases of adult laryngotracheal stenosis treated by a hyoid interposition composite graft. A two-step procedure...
