Search

The sentinel lymph nodes revisited

The concept of sentinel lymph node sampling has been around for some time. However, its acceptability in routine head and neck practice has yet to be established. This article presents the authors’ experience in 10 patients with Merkel cell carcinoma...

Sinonasal inverting papilloma and HPV - a meta-analysis of recurrent tumours

Sinonasal inverting papilloma (SNIP) is a common benign tumour of the sinuses. Difficulty lies in the association with metachronous or synchronous SCC of the sinus and also in the complete removal of the lesions due to their anatomical location. An...

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...

Core biopsies are good enough for lymphomas

This paper, from the South of England, has reviewed ultrasound-guided core needle biopsies over a six-year period investigating the use of the detection of head and neck lymphomas. There were 367 samples included from 226 patients; 215 of the 226...

Choline PET-CT: an accurate diagnostic tool for the detection of parathyroid adenoma?

Hyperparathyroidism (HPT) is an endocrine disorder characterised by an increase in the secretion of parathyroid hormone (PTH), with a resulting increase in calcium plasma levels, which can cause renal lithiasis, fractures, and osteoporosis, the most frequent symptoms of the disease....

Algorithm for malignant otitis externa

Timely detection and effective management of this potentially fatal condition cannot be overemphasised. This study presents 16 cases over 12 months in a tertiary referral centre. Most patients had diabetes and others were immunocompromised due to radiotherapy, immunosuppressive medication or...

Differences between paediatric and adult cholesteatomas

An understanding of the differences between adult and paediatric cholesteatomas should be helpful in more effective management of the disease in children. In this study, the authors focused their comparison between paediatric and adult cholesteatomas to the operative findings, rates...

Objective testing for Eustachian tube dysfunction

Eustachian tube dysfunction (ETD) is typically diagnosed based on subjective symptoms and examination leading to wide variation in its diagnosis and management. The search for an objective test has looked at ways of measuring the passage of air through the...

Are upper respiratory symptoms and macroscopic changes in children always due to gastro-oesphageal reflux?

In children, symptoms such as chronic cough, wheezing, stridor, voice changes, persistent asthma and dental erosion are often presumed to be due to gastro-oesophageal reflux and empirical treatment with PPIs is offered. Usual investigations, such as a barium meal, gastroscopy...

Amount of dietary iodine and thyroid cancer

Two molecular scientists from Zurich wrote this paper as a systematic review, asking the question of whether dietary iodine intake is a risk factor for developing thyroid cancer later on life. They speculate that low iodine intake is a risk...