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Risk of second primary cancer among patients with head and neck cancers

Patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) have an elevated risk of developing a second primary malignant neoplasm (SPMN). These are of increasing concern because the number of survivors of HNSCC has been growing owing to early detection...

Oral hygiene and its interaction with standard of education on the risk of oral cancer in women

Oral cancer in women has an increasing incidence in China, although the majority of Chinese women don’t smoke or drink alcohol. Poor oral hygiene has been shown in previous studies to be a risk factor in the development of oral...

Balloon dilatation of the eustachian tube - largely very safe but not entirely without risk

Consent is a fundamental part of our daily working lives. This is something as simple as consent to examine a patient, consent to undertake a procedure as minor as taking blood, through to consent for a major operation. Whatever the...

Preoperative risk factors: when do you need to refer to the haematologist?

It is essential that clinicians are able to identify and assess which patients are in the high risk category for bleeding during ENT surgery. A full history, including medications, herbal remedies taken, any other medical co-morbidities and family history of...

Active surveillance for papillary thyroid cancers – what is the risk of progression?

Papillary thyroid cancers (PTCs) are generally considered to be indolent malignancies with favourable outcomes. Active surveillance (AS) has consequently been trialled as a management option for small PTCs with no evidence of regional lymph node involvement, especially papillary thyroid microcarcinomas...

Neck dissection in adenoid cystic carcinoma is a risk worth taking?

This paper from Stanford University presents impressive figures to guide the debate on the extent of surgical management in adenoid cystic disease. Adenoid cystic carcinomas present a particular problem in that they can recur even after 20 years. They have...

Low risk options following failure of intratympanic gentamicin for Meniere’s

This article is a useful summary of the options available when intratympanic gentamicin (ITG) fails to adequately control vertigo episodes in Meniere’s patients. The authors describe the anatomical reasons that may impede drug delivery to the round window with the...

Intermediate risk factors SCC tongue

This retrospective review from Japan assessed 89 patients who underwent surgery for squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue, specifically they reviewed the evidence of perineural and vascular invasion (27.0% and 23.6%). Their results suggest, not unsurprisingly, that perineural and vascular...

Can we predict risk of adverse events preoperatively in patients undergoing head and neck cancer surgery?

Ed’s Choice reviews a paper aiming to create a reliable index to predict postoperative outcomes in head and neck cancer patients. This interesting study identifies variables that may assist in risk assessing prospective surgical candidates. There have been a few...

Transverse venous sinus stenosis – a risk factor for CSF leak in patients with idiopathic intracranial hypertension

This was a multicentre (six French tertiary hospitals) retrospective case-controlled study aiming to investigate the rate of transverse venous sinus stenosis (TVSS) in patients with idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) with nasal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaks. They compared the preoperative MRI...

Elevated prevalence of late-onset dysphagia among head and neck cancer survivors and identifying risk factors

Dysphagia is one of the most common problems affecting head and neck cancer (HNC) survivors. There are few studies investigating late-onset dysphagia post-treatment. The authors set out to investigate the prevalence of dysphagia-related diagnoses and procedures five years’ post-treatment, changes...