You searched for "laser"
Steroids for vocal cord mucus retention cysts
This is an interesting paper that describes the use of intralesional steroid injections to treat vocal cord mucus retention cysts. The gold standard is microlaryngoscopy and excision of the lesion. In patients who may be unable to undergo surgery, this...
DIY Epley manoeuvre
This is an interesting paper that looks at getting patients to do their own particle repositioning manoeuvre (PRM) after having it done by a clinician (‘Epley’ to you and me although there are some slight differences) once a week for...
Improving palliative care training for speech pathologists
There has been a steady increase in the number of people with swallowing, communication and cognitive disorders requiring palliative care. They require specialised, and complex care. This study tries to find out whether speech language pathologists are adequately trained to...
Balloon compared to FESS – long-term patient satisfaction
Balloon compared to FESS – long-term patient satisfaction This paper is the first controlled study of balloon sinoplasty’s long-term efficacy, with a follow-up extending over five years. There were 208 patients analysed and 88 recruited. Exclusions were nasal polyps grade...
Useful algorithm to manage adults with branchial cysts
Managing a solitary cystic lateral neck mass, specifically differentiating between a simple second branchial cyst and a metastatic cyst poses a challenge. Often the diagnosis only becomes apparent on the final histology. This paper analysed 28 adults that presented to...
Semantic fluency test to investigate deaf children
Semantic fluency task (SFT) is used to measure lexical organisation and executive function across the lifespan and requires participants to name examples from a particular semantic category in a specific period of time. Using this test, the authors investigated a...
We should all use ultrasound-guided core needle biopsy when investigating salivary gland lesions
Ultrasound core needle biopsy of salivary glands is an excellent diagnostic tool in terms of accuracy (both sensitivity and specificity), technical performance, and safety profile. This paper provided an update of the previous meta-analysis of the same question, which found...
SPECT scans not justified in growth of the mandibular condyle
This is a paper from Hong Kong of 200 patients between January 2011 and July 2013 who underwent SPECT bone scintigraphy for assessment of growth causing condylar hyperplasia and subsequent mandibular asymmetry. Thirty-four patients were found to have active growth...
Importance of face-to-face communication in clinical practice
Breakdowns in communication with patients who have difficulty in understanding, speaking or hearing may occur during a consultation. The authors of this paper studied the hearing-related breakdowns in communication especially amongst older adults with hearing impairment (HI) using conversational analysis...
What blood tests should be requested to investigate vocal cord paralysis?
Patients who are discovered to have a vocal cord palsy with no obvious cause on history or examination routinely undergo investigations to exclude an underlying pathology. Cross-sectional imaging of the relevant recurrent laryngeal nerve is required, but considerable variability has...
A beginner’s guide to endoscopic ear surgery (EES)
For some, this article will not provide them with anything new with respect to EES – in particular, the advantages of the technique and how to achieve them. However, for those surgeons who are debating whether to embark on the...
