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A useful adjuvant treatment for SNAC or IP

5-Fluorouracil (5FU) is a topical preparation used in the treatment of various dermatological, ocular and gynaecologic malignant and pre-malignant conditions, and this literature review looks at the efficacy of 5FU in treating inverted papilloma and sinonasal tumours. The authors cite...

Possibility of noise induced hearing loss during middle ear suction for secretory otitis media

Emission of high intensity sound is dangerous to the cochlea and can result in noise induced hearing loss (NIHL). Removal of middle ear fluid is common in everyday practice and the possibility of inducing NIHL is seldom considered and not...

Comprehensive Management of Vestibular Schwannoma

This is the Holy Grail of texts for anyone involved in the management of vestibular schwannoma. Edited by Matthew Carlson from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, the Associate Editors are from the same department, but the 156 contributors to...

Graft material success for tympanoplasty

This retrospective Belgian study looked at the success rates of xenograft and human allograft materials as alternatives to more common autograft materials like fascia, fat or cartilage. A total of 71 consecutive patients who underwent type 1 tympanoplasty were included,...

Skull base imaging: a review

This excellent review paper describes the anatomy, imaging protocols and differentiating imaging findings on CT and MRI in myriad skull base lesions. Skull base protocol MRI and thin section CT are required to evaluate all skull base lesions. According to...

Salvage surgery vs. repeat stereotactic radiosurgery for progressing vestibular schwannomas

This large multicentre case series of patients treated twice with stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for progressing vestibular schwannomas (VS) is reported by the International Gamma Knife Radiosurgery consortium. Progression of tumour growth after primary SRS is rare but does occur. Complications...

Is there a need for magnetic resonance imaging six-month post-radiosurgery for vestibular schwannoma?

With advances in imaging and radiation technologies, small, slowly growing vestibular schwannomas (VS) are treated primarily with either observation or stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). Routine magnetic resonance (MRI) scans with gadolinium are obtained six months and one year after SRS in...

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...

Does Koos classification predict facial nerve dysfunction?

The Koos classification is a grading system used often for preoperative evaluation of acoustic tumours on imaging studies. It indirectly correlates to the size of the tumour. Size of the vestibular schwannoma is often considered the main determinant for hearing...

How best to follow up a sinonasal cancer?

Sinonasal malignancies are rare tumours and, in the UK, are usually treated in tertiary treatment centres but may well be followed up long term in the patient’s local hospital, so advice on how best to manage these patients is invaluable....

Effect of swallowing exercises following free flap for oral cancer reconstruction

This paper from Beijing looked at 68 patients, 34 in a control group and 34 in an intervention group. Oral exercise training was performed by a specialist swallowing nurse in the intervention group. They found that personalised oral exercises had...