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Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery: Rapid Clinical and Board Review

This is a book written by a group of ENT surgeons from the Mayo Clinic, and a plastic surgeon from Colorado, and is aimed at US residents throughout their training, in particular in preparation for their board exams. As such,...

Clinical Manual of Otolaryngology

This book aims to fill the gap that many ‘generic clinical textbooks’ fail to address; the knowledge and skills required to deal with common ear, nose and throat conditions that present to general practitioners and in emergency departments. Its scope...

Thyroid nodule update

This excellent article summarises the current diagnostic difficulties with an endocrine gland that frequently produces nodules, some of which may harbour malignancy. At 50 years of age and over there is about a 50% chance of having a nodule; at...

Cochlear implants with an absent or hypoplastic cochlear nerve?

The cornerstone of successful cochlear implantation has been the presence of a population of cochlear nerve endings which are able to mount a neural response to electrical stimulation. The authors of this paper present their experience of five children with...

To scan or not to scan?

This comprehensive review article seeks to establish how useful is MRI in the evaluation of patients with a history of smell loss or distortion. Interestingly, while some studies found the imaging unhelpful, one paper described found a 25% rate of...

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...

Radiological diagnosis of mastoiditis in patients screened for acoustic neuroma

Magnetic resonance imaging is the ‘gold standard’ for screening patients suspected to have acoustic neuroma. Various abnormalities are picked up through this investigation, one of which, not uncommonly reported, is mastoiditis. This requires referral to otolaryngology and further evaluation. In...

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...

Preoperative CT checklist (using the ‘CLOSE’ mnemonic) improves identification of anatomical variants for endoscopic sinus surgery

Computed tomography (CT) scans of the paranasal sinuses act as roadmaps for endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) and careful inspection preoperatively warns the operating surgeon of critical anatomical variants. This study aimed to investigate if implementation of a pre-ESS CT checklist...

Prioritisation of surgery for pituitary tumours

This study is based on the findings of internationally renowned skull base surgeons who convened to recommend this stratification scheme. The study authors report that incidental diagnosis of pituitary tumours during routine imaging as well as early identification of visual...