Journal Reviews
British Skull Base Society Clinical Consensus Document on Management of Head and Neck Paragangliomas (HNPGLs)
All forms of HNPGLs should be managed by a multidisciplinary team (MDT) of core members from skull base otolaryngology, head and neck surgery, clinical genetics, oncology, endocrinology, vascular surgery, radiology and pathology. Extended members include neurosurgery, endocrine surgery, nuclear medicine,...
Does use of pectoralis muscle myocutaneous flap (PMMCF) reduce postoperative pharyngocutaneous fistula complication after salvage laryngectomy?
Salvage laryngectomy for recurrent laryngeal carcinoma following failed radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy is associated with high postoperative complication rate. The primary aim of this paper was to assess whether use of muscle myocutaneous flap (PMMCF) as an interposition graft reduces the...
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...
Postoperative radiation in early stage oropharyngeal squamous cell cancer (OPSCC)
There is significant variation in treatment strategies for OPSCC between units. This is largely due to unanswered questions which continue to exist beyond the published literature. We know that human papilloma virus status has a significant influence on prognosis but...
Predicting which oropharyngeal SCC HPV-positive patients should avoid de-escalated treatment
This study is timely for many reasons and raises very important questions in the management of the current rise in HPV-positive patients with oropharyngeal cancer (OPC). The uniqueness of this group within head and neck cancer in terms of favourable...
Previous radiotherapy does not cause worse outcomes in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer
Radiation exposure from nuclear incidents, especially in childhood, is known to increase the risk of thyroid cancer. This large retrospective study from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre sought to determine if thyroid cancers in patients with prior exposure to...
