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Balloon dilatation is an effective adjunct

This is a good study design, sufficiently powered, comparing medical management to balloon sinus dilatation. All patients had failed medical management and were thoroughly assessed preoperatively with Lund-Mackay score confirming abnormal CT findings, SNOT 20 index score, chronic sinusitis score...

Sellar surgery – when to prepare for repair

Endoscopic sellar surgery, especially for adenomas, is a relatively safe, straightforward surgery with (mostly) reproducible results and few complications. One of the commonest complications is the creation of a CSF leak with the subsequent need for repair (there is usually...

Gamma Knife surgery for persistent or recurrent trigeminal neuralgia

Treatment of trigeminal neuralgia continues to be challenging. The treatment options include pharmacotherapy, or failing this, surgical options like microvascular decompression (MVD), radiofrequency ablation, pencil beam convolution and Gamma Knife surgery. The authors of this article have presented a series...

Steroids pre-FESS

This meta-analysis and systematic review from the Netherlands and the UK aims to answer the question of whether corticosteroids inhaled and / or taken orally are beneficial to patients with chronic rhinosinusitis undergoing functional endoscopic sinus surgery. Refreshingly 18 RCTs...

Facial nerve grafting – what’s the wait?

An uninterrupted facial nerve after resection of cerebellopontine angle (CPA) tumour does not always translate into preserved facial animation. Fortunately there is a high probability spontaneous recovery may occur and hence patients are typically observed for 12 months postoperatively. However,...

Do spreader grafts improve nasal airflow?

This Portuguese study looks at pre- and postoperative peak nasal inspiratory flow (PNIF) in 72 consecutive patients undergoing septorhinoplasty surgery. The aim was to demonstrate the functional value of spreader graft insertion, the aesthetic value having already been confirmed. In...

Are elective facelifts a good idea after head and neck cancer radiotherapy?

The aim of this study was to assess the safety of elective cervicofacial rhytidectomy following radiotherapy for head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC). A greater proportion of HNSCC patients are infected with certain strains of the human papillomavirus, which...

Maternal angst

This paper confirms the anxiety that a mother experiences when their child undergoes surgery. The paper focuses on adenoidectomy and adenotonsillectomy for moderate to severe upper airway obstruction showing admirably how anxiety reduces following surgery. The authors recruited 66 mothers...

Novel balloon device to control cavernous sinus bleeding

In their Letter to the Editor, the authors suggest a draft for a novel balloon catheter device for sinus haemostasis during trans-sphenoidal surgery which is associated with uncontrollable sinus bleeding in 1-8% cases. Their proposed device has a single lumen...

Reducing readmission rates after transsphenoidal pituitary surgery

This retrospective study provides an outpatient care pathway to screen and manage delayed hyponatremia which the study identified as the primary cause of readmission following transsphenoidal pituitary surgery. Of the 303 patients who were studied, 27 were readmitted within 30...