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To endo or to micro, that is the question: the musculoskeletal paradigm

Endoscopic ear surgery is a newer concept compared with the microscopic one. Both could lead to musculoskeletal pain due to the long static posture of surgeons during otologic procedures. The authors conducted a study on eight otolaryngologists, four attendings and...

Can and should vestibular schwannoma surgery be carried out via the endoscopic transcanal approach?

The extent and scope of endoscopic ear surgery has rapidly progressed in recent years, and this paper, from one of the leading proponents of this technique, reports on the outcomes of a case series of patients who have had total...

Tonsillectomy in or out?

Although tonsillectomy is the most common surgical act performed in ENT practice, there is still some concern about the safety of outpatient or day surgery scheduling, especially in adults. Although this has been common practice in many departments for some...

Inter-aural hearing preservation in cochlear implantation

Hearing preservation during cochlear implantation is becoming increasingly important, although results can be unpredictable. NICE are in the process of updating their guidance in the UK and it is possible that those with better hearing than the current candidates will...

Sinonasal inverting papilloma: who is at risk of recurrence?

This study from a tertiary sinus surgery unit, describes some useful information in the follow-up of sinonasal inverted papilloma patients - in particular those likely to recur - and discusses the optimal staging systems to use to attempt to predict...

Double suspension sutures for obstructive sleep apnoea

This study examines the benefit of an operation that targets the lateral pharyngeal wall. The double suspension sutures are, in essence, a suture through the palatopharyngeus muscle which is then tied around the hamulus in the retro molar area. This...

eSRTs versus eCAP: Which is better?

Electrically evoked compound action potentials (eCAP) and electrically evoked stapedius reflex threshold (eSRT) techniques were compared to establish how well the two techniques correlated and which yielded quicker results in a group of paediatric cochlear implant (CI) users. This team...

Is medical therapy without surgical treatment sufficient in treating peritonsillar abscess?

Standard treatment of peritonsillar abscess (PTA) has typically involved both medical therapy and surgical drainage either in the form of needle aspiration, or incision and drainage. However, is medical without surgical treatment sufficient? The authors suggest that medical therapy without...

Omalizumab for CRSwNP: a monoclonal antibody

A prospective study from London, evaluating the response of chronic rhinosinusitis patients with nasal polyposis who were being treated with monoclonal antibody against IgE for severe allergic asthma. Thirteen patients were treated with Omalizumab, according to UK guidelines for their...

The hot nose

Capsaicin nasal spray can offer moderate to significant symptomatic relief to 70-80% of patients with idiopathic rhinitis (IR). Efficacy was also shown in lab studies. Nasal hyper reactivity (NHR), absence of allergy / infective rhinosinusitis, age limits (18-60), no anatomical...

Intraoperative MRI use during pituitary tumour resection

This article provides an overview of intraoperative MRI (iMRI) use in transphenoidal surgery (TSS) for pituitary tumours. Traditionally imaging of the surgical field during surgery involves intraoperative fluoroscopic imaging or neuronavigation which help to avoid injury to critical structures but...

Should patients with dysphagia be allowed water freely?

Patients with dysphagia often experience dehydration as a consequence of “nil by mouth” or having to consume thickened fluids due to aspiration of thin fluids. However, not all incidents of aspiration develop into an infection. Factors that contribute to aspiration...