This systematic review and meta-analysis discusses the safety of hemithyroidectomy in an outpatient vis-à-vis an inpatient setting. Thyroidectomy has traditionally been performed as an inpatient procedure. Currently, an increasing number of surgeons are performing thyroidectomy in outpatient settings. The main...
The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists report that 20% of speech and language therapy positions are unfilled in the UK. Consequently, there is an urgent need to offer as many training courses as possible to fill these gaps....
Our population is ageing and, with this, the incidence of frailty is increasing. Frailty is defined as increased vulnerability to stressors resulting in adverse outcomes. Stressors can include communication and swallowing difficulties, yet these are poorly recognised. Management of communication...
Inadequate workforce resource is an ongoing difficulty across the health professions. This study proposes a train the trainer model, with the ultimate goal of improving the communication skills of children with autism. The study describes an intervention called naturalistic developmental...
The number of students experiencing mental health difficulties has risen dramatically, sometimes attributed to the widespread intrusion of social media in our lives, increasing social pressures on performance, and recent other societal factors. This article describes a study undertaken with...
Spasmodic dysphonia is a rare neurological voice disorder, which is often missed by the inexperienced ear. There is no laboratory test or investigation to diagnose this condition therefore, it is best diagnosed by listening to the patient’s voice. Laryngeal endoscopy...
As a Macmillan Head and Neck Specialist Nurse, I was very pleased to be asked to review this book, The Laryngectomee Guide, by Itzhak Brook, MD. It is fair to say that for most laryngectomy patients, life does go on...
Placement of voice prosthesis at the time of trachea-oesophageal puncture is well described using 20-French prostheses. There is debate about the optimal size of the prosthesis with work in the 1980s and 1990s supporting larger prostheses. The rationale was that...
Post irradiation xerostomia is a common side effect of irradiation to the head and neck region, with up to 90% of patients reporting some symptoms. Submandibular glands account for 70% of resting saliva production. Surgically transferring the submandibular gland to...
Neck dissection in addition to surgery of the primary site is commonly recommended in head and neck cancer treatment. However, there has been no consensus on the number of nodes that need to be removed to constitute a sufficient neck...
Chemo-radiotherapy is the standard of care for organ preservation in stage three and four oropharyngeal cancer, prospective data on patients over 65 has not been available as they are usually excluded from randomised trials. This paper reviews the experience of...