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Surgery of vestibular schwannomas with peritumoral oedema
This is an interesting retrospective study evaluating peritumoral oedema on magnetic resonance images and correlating it with the intra-operative tumour characteristics and outcome. The study results found that vestibular schwannomas with peritumoral oedema were associated with greater incidence of hypervascularity...
Mobile phones to assess productivity in rhinitis
Uncontrolled and moderate to severe allergic rhinitis (AR) has significant negative impact on work productivity. Work Productivity and Activity Impairment Allergic Specific Questionnaire (WPAI:AS) used to measure that impact showed this. Work productivity seems to improve when AR is treated....
McIsaac scores in tonsillitis
Acute tonsillitis is usually caused by a viral infection, however often antibiotics are prescribed without a confirmed diagnosis of a bacterial infection. The Modified Centor (McIsaac) criteria, which include fever (>38°c), tonsillar exudate, no cough, anterior cervical lymphadenitis and age,...
The effect of adenotonsillectomy on the immune system
Parents often ask about the effect of adenotonsillectomy on the immune system, with concerns that the child may be prone to more infections postoperatively due to the absence of immune tissue. This Belgian literature review looked at the local and...
Fluorescein use during parotidectomy
The authors of this study retrospectively reviewed the surgical charts of seven patients who underwent parotidectomy for tumour resection. In all these patients, Fluorescein sodium was used to enhance the contrast between parotid tumour tissue and the facial nerve. Using...
Tongue twisters to evaluate speech disorders
This interesting study compared errors in tongue twisters produced by adult patients with dysarthria with those produced by age-matched healthy controls. Audio recordings of all patients while they were vocalising tongue twisters were studied. The authors marked one word prominently...
Risk factors in free flap failure
This is a retrospective analysis from China of 881 free flaps over nearly four years, 49 of which were ‘taken back’, 26 of which were lost, giving a 97% success rate. The commonest cause of flap failure was venous thrombosis....
Mindfulness meditation versus relaxation therapy for tinnitus
Tinnitus, defined by McFadden as “a conscious experience of sound that originates in the head of its owner, without an external acoustic source”, has a high prevalence and variable psychological impact. It results from maladaptation of the brain to a...
Is combined two wall decompression approach a better surgical outcome for Grave’s orbitopathy?
This retrospective study looked at the outcome of endoscopic medial wall combined with transcutaneous lateral orbital wall decompression in Graves’ orbitopathy. The following parameters were studied: reduction in proptosis; change in visual acuity and diplopia. A total of 36 orbits...
Graft material success for tympanoplasty
This retrospective Belgian study looked at the success rates of xenograft and human allograft materials as alternatives to more common autograft materials like fascia, fat or cartilage. A total of 71 consecutive patients who underwent type 1 tympanoplasty were included,...
Paediatric nasopharyngeal carcinoma
Between 11 and 18% of nasopharyngeal carcinomas (NPC) occur in the paediatric age group but there are no specific management guidelines for this age group. Tunisia is a region with an intermediate incidence of NPC, the authors studied 40 cases...
