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Further understanding of GJB2 hearing loss

For many years, hearing loss has been an area which has attracted the interest of clinical and academic geneticists. Genetic testing for severe-profound hearing loss is now commonplace in many healthcare systems. Understanding the genetics of hearing loss has improved...

Treatment options for vestibular neuritis: systematic review and meta-analysis

Vestibular neuritis (VN) is the third most common cause of peripheral vertigo. VN has been postulated to have viral aetiology and historically it was treated with steroids, until 2011 when a Cochrane review demonstrated lack of robust evidence behind this...

Balloon Eustachian tuboplasty – is it time to start doing it in children?

Given the potential applications for balloon Eustachian tuboplasty (BET) in children, its uptake in most centres has been slow. The reasons for this are multifactorial. There are technical issues – the feasibility of obtaining the correct size balloon and manoeuvring...

Pharmacological treatment of glue ear in children

Otitis media with effusion (OME), also known as glue ear, is a common cause of hearing loss in children. Most cases resolve spontaneously within three months. Early and proper management of OME can help avoid hearing and speech impairment that...

All videoswallows are not performed equally…

Videofluoroscopy is one of the main instrumental tools used to assess swallowing biomechanics and physiology. In the UK, it is mainly within the remit of speech and language therapists (SLT) to perform videoswallows but there is considerable variability in both...

Advances in neural stimulation of the auditory pathway

This article reviews the use of neuroprosthetic devices such as cochlear and auditory brainstem implants (ABI) to stimulate the auditory pathway, discussing the successes, limitations and advances in this area. Currently, neuroprosthetic devices deliver electrical impulses to the cochlear nerve...

The polyp shrinker

Inflammatory markers, including T2 cells beta common (βc) cytokines IL-3, IL5 and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), are known to play an important role in chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP). CSL311, a monoclonal antibody (mAb), was developed to target human...

Sarcopenia and dysphagia in older community-dwelling adults

The prevalence of dysphagia in community-dwelling older adults is reported to be around 15%. Outside of common neurological causes such as stroke, Parkinson’s disease and dementia, recent studies have suggested that sarcopenia may be an independent risk factor for the...

Sphenopalatine ganglion block in endoscopic sinus surgery reduces intra and post-operative morbidity

The authors present results of a meta-analysis to investigate the role of sphenopalatine ganglion block (SPGB) in reducing postoperative pain in endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS). An electronic database search (Pubmed, SCOPUS, Google Scholar, Embase, and the Cochrane Register of Controlled...