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Herpes zoster and SSNHL

Some studies suggest that viral infections may increase the risk of a sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL). The described longitudinal study explored whether herpes zoster may be a factor that increases the risk of SSNHL. Medical history in reference to...

Clinical histopathology of 250 parotidectomy patients

Clinical histopathology of 250 parotidectomy patients This is a retrospective study of 250 consecutive parotidectomy patients at units in Belgium and the Netherlands. The sensitivity and specificity of FNAC was 64% and 99% respectively, the sensitivity being slightly lower than...

Extracapsular dissection versus parotidectomy

This is a literature review of 16 papers using the PRISMA protocol. In comparing the two techniques, not surprisingly, they found that extracapsular dissection was associated with a reduced incidence of facial nerve paralysis and Frey’s syndrome and a shorter...

Bone thickness and split pattern in mandibular osteotomies

This paper looked at 63 sagittal split ramus osteotomy sites. The type of split was classified according to the Plooij paper and bone measurements were taken at four sites. Of these sites, the thickness of the bone in one point,...

Doing it for the men: diversifying the speech and language therapy profession

It is known that many health professions are dominated by females, particularly the allied health professions, such as speech and language therapy. This is more pronounced in the US than in the UK, Australia and other countries. The authors of...

Speech in noise hearing difficulties

The phenomenon of speech understanding in noise in normal hearing people attracts the interest of researchers continuously. This study’s aim was to further explore the possible reasons behind these difficulties. The participants were 50 adults that reported having normal hearing...

Surgical management of refractory osteoradionecrosis

This is a French single-centre, 10-year experience of 55 surgical resection and reconstruction procedures. They claim an overall effectiveness rate of 92.3%. A total of 36 segmental and 19 marginal mandibulectomies were performed. A variety of free flaps were used,...

Hierarchy of orthognathic surgical stability

This study was designed as “an overview” of secondary studies and analysed 15 articles. Two procedures were considered highly unstable: a bilateral sagittal split osteotomy for clockwise rotation of the mandible with bi-cortical screw rigid internal fixation, and posterior maxillary...

Genetic testing in congenital hearing loss

Advances in genetic testing over the last decade have reduced the cost and time such testing required and increased understanding of the genes involved in conditions like congenital hearing loss. This study from Atlanta looks at genetic testing from a...

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...

Delays in oral cancer

This is a review from Canada where they attempt to relate delays in oral cancer presentation to treatment and the impact on stage, diagnosis and survival. They recognise that potentially the most significant delay is between the patient first noticing...

Swallow this: management of dysphagia in progressive neurological conditions

Whether the person with the swallowing difficulty has an acquired or progressive neurological condition, understanding the aetiology will allow the speech and language therapist assessing the swallow to have a better understanding of the likely implications for future swallow management...