Journal Reviews
The sentinel lymph nodes revisited
The concept of sentinel lymph node sampling has been around for some time. However, its acceptability in routine head and neck practice has yet to be established. This article presents the authors’ experience in 10 patients with Merkel cell carcinoma...
Polydioxanone in septal reconstruction
Septal reconstruction is a challenging problem and is undertaken for functional or cosmetic reasons, or a combination of both. Either autologous cartilage, commonly auricular, or other alloplastic material can be used. The authors describe the use of a Polydioxanone (PDS)...
Techniques in Facial Plastic Surgery: Discussion and Debate part 2
This edition of this popular journal is dedicated to ‘panel discussion’ on some of the most common controversies associated with ‘bread and butter’ facial aesthetic procedures. The procedures included are relevant and the aspects discussed are of practical importance to...
Auditory processing in children with unilateral hearing loss
It is a common assumption that unilateral hearing loss (UHL) in children is of little consequence because appropriate development of speech and language can still occur with one normal hearing ear. Recent studies, however, suggest that there are significant differences...
Tinnitus in patients on therapy with PPI and in PPI non–users
Tinnitus is a chronic and debilitating condition and approximately 10% of the population is afflicted. A myriad of pharmacological treatments for tinnitus are available but only a few controlled studies have shown positive results. The relationship between proton pump inhibitors...
Objective versus subjective – again!
The use of objective measurements of nasal airflow has a long history; however, its clinical application remains, at most, patchy. The main reason for that has been the lack of convincing studies showing a good correlation between the findings of,...
Early intensive aphasia therapy in stroke patients
The impact of aphasia following stroke is devastating. Very early aphasia rehabilitation studies have been the subject of ongoing debate. This paper describes the comparison of a very early aphasia therapy regimen with a historical ‘usual care’ control group after...
Early habilitation for hearing impairment in children with Down syndrome
Approximately 40-80% of children with Down syndrome have hearing impairment in addition to speech and language impairment. The commonest cause of hearing impairment in young children is otitis media with effusion. This paper investigated the impact of early hearing loss...
BAHA stability measurement in children
This useful paper reports the experience of using resonance frequency analysis for single stage bone-conduction implants in a paediatric population. A smartpegTM is attached to the abutment and vibrated by a close quarters magnetic field. The amount of vibration is...
Are biofilms present in deep neck abscesses?
Why are some cervical abscesses resistant to antibiotic treatment? The authors postulate that a biofilm develops to allow the bacteria to overcome normal host defences. They investigated the micro-environment of deep neck abscesses in a largely paediatric cohort. Biopsies of...
Cheek reconstruction following melanoma excision
Malignant melanoma occurs most commonly on the cheek and thus is usually diagnosed early, and rarely needs large reconstructions for advanced disease. This is a retrospective study looking at 26 patients that had undergone treatment for cheek melanomas between 1996...
Extranodal natural killer / T-cell lymphoma in the head and neck
The authors present a retrospective single institution review of patients with a very rare variant of non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL). They report on the occurrence, clinical course and outcomes of their patients with natural killer / T-cell lymphoma (NKTCL) nasal type....
