Journal Reviews
Percutaneous tracheostomy in anticoagulated patients
This Belgian study looked at the risks and complications of bedside percutaneous tracheostomy in patients who received anticoagulant therapy. The 231 tracheostomies included in the study were performed over an eight-year period by two otolaryngologists using bronchoscopic guidance. The mean...
An alternative device for obstructive sleep apnoea
Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is the first-line treatment for obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), primarily due to the vast amount of short-term evidence in the medical literature it has accrued. The enduring obstacle to CPAP from becoming a treatment option...
Are elective neck dissections needed during salvage laryngectomy?
There has recently been a move away from elective neck dissections in the setting of salvage laryngectomy. This has mainly resulted from an appreciation of the increase in morbidity, in particular pharyngocutaneous fistula formation, and an improvement in cross-sectional imaging...
Do steroids improve outcome in acute vestibular neuritis?
The role of steroids in short and long-term recovery from acute vestibular neuritis has been a subject of debate for several years. The authors reported findings of a prospective randomised trial in 60 adult patients. Inclusion criteria were acute vertigo...
Online group therapy is easier but is it better?
Aphasia is a communication disability caused by stroke, brain injury or dementia. People with aphasia benefit from both the emotional and communication support that group therapy can provide, yet there can be many barriers to accessing this type of intervention,...
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...
A trial of house dust mite sublingual tablet in children with allergic rhinitis
The house dust mite (HDM) is one of the commonest causative agents in allergic rhinitis (AR), affecting patients across all demographics. Recently, sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) has been shown in clinical trials and meta-analysis to be effective compared to placebo in...
Is there a role for hyperbaric treatment in sudden hearing loss?
Sudden sensorineural hearing loss is a common presentation to ENT departments with a significant difference in management both at a local and regional level. The authors seek to clarify the role of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in combination with oral and...
Bothersome ‘burping’ – speech therapy may help
Most people experience belching as a normal phenomenon, often after eating or drinking carbonated drinks in particular. However, separate to this normal physiological phenomenon, some people experience belches that can occur much more frequently (up to 20 times a minute)...
Sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma – slowly getting there
The rarest of the rare, sinonasal tumours form only a small part of the total number of head and neck tumours and undifferentiated carcinoma (SNUC) is one of the rarest of this group. There is some data (and some expert...
CBT for tinnitus and hyperacusis
Finding an efficient treatment for tinnitus attracts the interest of researchers worldwide. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is one of the widely researched methods used in tinnitus management. The aim of this study was to investigate what proportion of patients complete...
KTP laser ablation for early glottic cancer
TLM for glottic carcinoma has historically been performed with a carbon dioxide (CO2) laser. A much smaller literature base has examined the use of potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP) laser in this context. This retrospective chart review aims to fill that...
