Journal Reviews
The incidence of coagulopathies in children presenting with post-tonsillectomy haemorrhage
Tonsillectomy is often the first haemostatic challenge for a child. Postoperative haemorrhage may therefore represent the first presentation of a child’s underlying bleeding disorder. This study aimed to quantify the rate of occult coagulopathy in patients who had experienced a...
Treatment of internal carotid artery blowout with embolisation and bypass grafting (nasopharyngeal carcinoma)
Carotid artery blowout syndrome (CBS) occurs when there is rupture of the carotid artery causing massive epistaxis and bleeding through the oral cavity caused by tumour invasion, surgery, radiotherapy, or infection. This article proposes a revascularisation strategy for internal carotid...
Recording of electrode voltages (REVS) to determine extra-cochlear electrodes
Determining whether electrodes are sitting within the cochlea can be difficult as the checks run by the programming software cannot always determine this. In some cases, patients may be unable to give the audiologist detailed feedback which can complicate the...
Automated contouring of costal cartilage for pinna reconstruction – a proof of concept
Presently there are limited applications of automation within operative ENT. This proof-of-concept study explores the use of an augmented robot to contour cadaveric costal cartilage for auricular reconstruction. Ordinarily this task is performed manually. This takes considerable time due to...
Till death do us part: the role of the speech and language therapists in palliative care
Increasingly, speech and language therapists are being involved in end-of-life and palliative care. This study reports on a three-phase project to explore this in the context of the Australian healthcare system. In phase one, the authors described a scoping review...
Preventing major postoperative haemorrhage following TORS
Transoral robotic surgery (TORS) has become an increasingly utilised treatment modality in the management of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC). Postoperative haemorrhage, although uncommon, is a significant complication. To ameliorate this risk, transcervical ligation of branches of the external carotid...
OSA is neuroprotective!
This interesting study supports the hypothesis of the protective effects of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) against ischemic events like stroke. The authors evaluated the impact of OSA with the presentation, hospital course and outcomes of patients with subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH)....
Pain control for patients with chronic pain following surgery
There is an increasing number of patients with a background of chronic pain presenting to the otolaryngologist. Patients with chronic pain require extra consideration in postoperative pain control due to risk of tolerance and dependence. This article summarises postoperative management...
Bringing aged care back
Worldwide, our older population is increasing, and thus a need for the provision of care to older people is also increasing. Aged care may be informal, provided by unpaid carers; or formal, provided or subsidised by government or other organisations....
COVID-19 tracheostomies
This is a review of tracheostomies completed by an OMFS Unit in London from 10 March to 18 May 2020. A total of 176 COVID-19 patients were admitted to intensive care, 72 of which required tracheostomy due to prolonged respiratory...
Swallowing it whole: the physical and psychological consequences of dysphagia
Living with dysphagia in the real world can be extremely challenging, both practically and psychologically. Long-term changes in taste due to chemo-radiation treatment for head and neck cancer, fatigue due to Parkinson’s disease, and physically impaired structures due to stroke...
CATE in people with dementia
Behavioural hearing tests may be difficult to perform for people with dementia. The aim of this study was to investigate if the cortical automatic threshold estimation (CATE) may be used as an alternative to the pure tone audiometry test. Six...
