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Application of balloon dilatation in chronic eustachian tube dysfunction

Chronic eustachian tube dysfunction prevails in 1% of the adult population and can predispose to middle ear disease. There are subjective and objective features of this condition that can affect quality of life. The common methods to treat eustachian tube...

Common skin conditions of the ear and how best to manage them

toses.

Paper patching for aural fullness

This Belgian prospective study reported on the effect of paper patching on aural fullness of unknown aetiology. It looked at 22 patients who complained of aural fullness without any middle ear pathology. The patients were divided into a treatment group...

Laryngeal oedema as a side-effect of tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) such as Imatinib are increasingly being used to treat haematological and solid malignancies. These agents have revolutionised the treatment of chronic myeloid leukaemia in particular. Although better tolerated than most conventional chemotherapy drugs, multiple side-effects have...

Subannular T-tubes for adhesive otitis

This Italian study looked at the success rates of a novel method to manage adhesive otitis media (chronic otitis media with adhesion of the tympanic membrane to the promontory). The authors looked at 22 patients with unilateral chronic adhesive otitis...

Antiseptics to combat otorrhea in the era of antibiotic resistance

This nice scientific paper pits various antiseptic solutions against each other to determine which has the most bactericidal properties. Five different antiseptics were applied to MRSA and quinolone-resistant pseudomonas species, which are both difficult to treat with conventional ototoxic medications....

Carotid paragangliomas and their management

Paragangliomas in the head and neck are most frequently associated with the carotid artery, classically at its bifurcation and splaying the internal and external vessels. Despite their commonality at this site, large studies of these rare tumours are still lacking...

Learning curve for sialendoscopy

Sialendoscopy represents a minimally invasive technique that permits direct salivary tree visualisation and treatment using endoscopic techniques. Previous studies have shown that it is an efficacious, safe and potentially gland preserving method to treat major salivary gland disease. However, it...

Evidence based outcomes for canal wall up, canal wall down and subsequent canal wall reconstruction for primary cholesteatoma

There has been a long standing controversy over whether to treat primary cholesteatoma with open or closed technique. The general consensus is that limited disease can be treated with closed technique whereas the canal wall down approach helps reduce recidivism...

Pituitary tumour associated headaches

This longitudinal cohort study presents data with significant clinical implications for patients with headaches and the clinicians and surgeons who treat them. For the study, patients completed a self-administered survey on headache characteristics on initial presentation and after surgery of...

Efficacy of interventions for stuttering: literature review

This is the first part of a two-article review of the efficacy of different modalities of treatments used for treatment of stuttering / stammering. In this article, the authors describe their efforts to identify and quantify evidence on various interventions...

Clival chordoma recurrence

Chordomas are generally slow growing and are histologically considered low grade tumours. Their high recurrence rate even after postoperative radiation renders them difficult to treat. This is particularly true for clival chordomas whose deep anatomic location and proximity to vital...