Journal Reviews
Revision stapes surgery
Few centres have much experience of revision stapes surgery, so it was interesting to read about the findings of this Turkish centre with regards to the causes and outcomes for revision otosclerosis surgery over a 16-year period. A total of...
Significance of abnormal retropharyngeal nodes in head and neck cancer
Abnormal retropharyngeal lymph nodes (RLN) have prognostic relevance for patients with oral, oropharyngeal or nasopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). However, consensus on the evaluation and management of abnormal RLN in these patients is lacking. The authors of this paper provided...
How to train adults with single-sided deafness and cochlear implants
Cochlear implantation (CI) in patients with single-sided deafness (SSD) has been carried out in Perth, Australia from 2008. It poses challenges to clinicians and patients who are trying to tune in the poorer ear while still having a normally hearing...
Tramadol soaked nasal packs for post-septoplasty analgesia
Having had a septoplasty a number of years ago for the potential treatment of snoring, I was intrigued by this paper which compared the analgesic effect of tramadol-soaked and lignocaine-soaked nasal packs following septoplasty. In my practice, I have always...
Chronic rhinitis endotypes
Chronic rhinitis (CR) is common with up to 30% of the population affected, with a significant impact on quality of life. CR includes several phenotypes with different pathogenesis including allergy, autoimmune, age, occupation, pregnancy, neurogenic and drugs. Such variation means...
Hearing disability questionnaires
This is a very interesting study concerning the validity and readability of 10 hearing disability English language questionnaires available for clinical use. The questionnaires were assessed against the World Health Organisation’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health framework (WHO-ICF)....
Locked or unlocked?
This systematic review and meta-analysis from the Netherlands evaluates postoperative complications of mandibular fractures using locking and non-locking systems. It is suggested that postoperative complications of surgical treatment of mandibular fractures occur in 20-26% of patients, and it is thought...
Do bicycle helmets prevent facial injuries?
This is an analysis from Germany where they reviewed over 7000 bicycle accidents over a 16-year period that met their inclusion criteria. Over 1000 had a facial injury (bone or soft tissue) with helmets being worn in 11.8% of accidents....
Identification of congenital hearing loss in Saudi Arabia
It has long been recognised that timely recognition of congenital hearing loss allows for the morbidity of hearing loss to be minimised. Due to the difficulties with identifying hearing loss in babies, combined with readily available screening technologies, many countries...
Swallow this: management of dysphagia in progressive neurological conditions
Whether the person with the swallowing difficulty has an acquired or progressive neurological condition, understanding the aetiology will allow the speech and language therapist assessing the swallow to have a better understanding of the likely implications for future swallow management...
Swallow this: management of dysphagia post-stroke
We know that between 50% and 80% of people who have had a stroke present with swallowing difficulties that may be associated with even a small lesion of the cortical or subcortical brain regions. This article provides an up-to-date overview...
Is dissection of level IV necessary in patients with negative neck oral cancer?
Supraomohyoid neck dissection (SOHND) refers to the removal of lymph nodes contained in levels I-III and is currently referred to as a selective neck dissection levels I-III. This type of neck dissection has been frequently used in the management of...
