Journal Reviews archive for November 2014
Be sober to stay on your feet
Readers would either have had a personal experience or observed the inelegant gait of the inebriated. Re-aligning the body during postural perturbations involves changes in head position, shoulders, and hip, knee and ankle joints. The main hypothesis of this study...
Passive smoking and rhinosinusitis
One would expect that subjects exposed to more passive smoke would have a significantly increased level of rhinosinusitis. This study looked at a reasonable number of sinusitis and control subjects (404 and 165) using hair nicotine as an assessment of...
Primary ossicular chain reconstruction in open-cavity mastoidectomy
The authors performed a retrospective analysis of 21 patients who had undergone primary reconstruction of the ossicular chain during canal-wall-down mastoidectomy. The ossiculoplasty technique used consisted of removal of the malleus head and division of tensor tympani, and rotation of...
A new septoplasty technique
This article describes a novel septoplasty technique to correct a cartilaginous deflection. Although it took a while to understand it as the operative photographs were not very helpful it is an interesting concept. The author excises an inferior strip and...
Risk factors for post tonsillectomy bleeds
This paper reviews post-tonsillectomy bleeding in 692 patients and attempts to tease out risk factors. The overall bleed rate of 11.6% seems very high. The return to theatre rate was 2.6%. The paper identifies male patients and adult patients as...
Treatment of olfactory dysfunction
The sense of smell is crucial to our being able to relish food and experience our environment. Olfactory dysfunction has been trivialised or ignored previously, but the negative consequences of the loss of sense of smell are being increasingly highlighted....
Management of necrotising otitis externa
Although uncommon, necrotising (previously malignant) otitis externa (nOE) can be very aggressive, particularly if not managed appropriately. In this study the authors perform a retrospective review of 25 patients admitted with nOE over a four year period at a tertiary...
Is it time for cone-beam CTs to replace the traditional orthopantomogram in the primary diagnosis of temporomandibular joint disorders?
Cone-beam CT requires a lower dose of radiation compared to the multidetector CT and provides much more detailed information in 3D about the bony structures of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) when compared to the traditional orthopantomogram (OPG). In this article...
Role of copper ions in drinking water in the pathogenesis of oral submucous fibrosis: the missing link in the aetiopathology?
Often a breakthrough link in the understanding of the aetiopathogenesis of a hitherto common pathology that has been evading the medical community may not come from the hi-tech labs of the developed world, but from the intelligent investigations from a...
Emerging antimicrobial resistance in ENT outpatients
Given the recent statement from the UK Prime Minister on this issue, it would appear timely to assess the ‘time bomb’ of antibiotic resistance in otology. Comparison of ear swabs over twelve months from 2007 and 2012 demonstrates an increasing...
Assessment in ENT: Intra-operative videos
An article examining the reliability and validity of remote scoring; a video assessment of myringotomy and grommet insertion. The primary outcome measures were to determine construct validity (differentiating between different grades of surgeons) and reliability of video scoring. Unfortunately, the...
Transnasal oesophagoscopy: prospective cohort review
This paper looked at 257 patients undergoing the procedure in a tertiary otolaryngology department. In light of the morbidity of upper GI endoscopy associated with the sedation required, the safety profile of transnasal oesophagoscopy is a clear advantage. This cohort...
