Search

The father of the history of otology

This year marks the centenary of the death of Adam Politzer (1835-1920). He has been described as the Father of Otology [1] and was certainly the most influential person in otology in the latter half of the 19th century [2]....

From Hippocrates to COVID-19: sniffing out the disease

The ancient Greek physician, Hippocrates, used the ‘art of smell’ to diagnose diseases around 400BC. He also formulated miasmatic theory, which posited that disease is caused by bad smells. Bad air was strongly believed by many physicians to be the...

Hearing loss and Alport syndrome

Alport syndrome (AS) includes a group of hereditary diseases caused by mutations in the COL4A3, COL4A4 or COL4A5 genes. These genes are responsible for the biosynthesis of α3, α4 and α5 collagen IV chains, which are located in the glomerular...

Chronic cough hypersensitivity syndrome

We all have patients who give us a ‘heartsink’ feeling; for many of us, the coughing patient is exactly such a situation. In this overview, Bhaskar Ram and Sangeeta Maini outline their approach to diagnosis. Declan Costello, Editor. Introduction Chronic...

Chronic rhinosinusitis management: back to the future?

Immunology is a dim and distant medical school memory to many ENT surgeons, but the increasingly complex immunology of chronic rhinosinusitis is fascinating (honestly!). Medical management options in CRS no longer just involves saline and steroids, and we need to...

Facial pain: the differential diagnosis in an ENT clinic

The patient presenting with facial pain can be a heartsink. Fear not – Bhaskar Ram and Sangeeta Maini are here with a succinct overview of the common non-sinogenic causes of facial pain and headache, and how to manage them. Facial...

Systemic agents in thyroid cancer

For those patients who have disseminated or unresectable thyroid cancer, Dr Arabella Hunt and Dr Kate Newbold review systemic treatments, their differences, toxicities and outcomes. Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy. It is subdivided into differentiated (papillary, follicular...