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From a dysphagia clinical trial to a multidisciplinary head and neck clinical pathway – the road to implementation

This paper describes the barriers and facilitators to establishing a structured and coordinated multidisciplinary care pathway for patients with head and neck cancer at a medical centre in the USA. The initiative was set in motion by the roll out...

Eustachian tube function before and after FESS

This is a prospective study from the UK looking at Eustachian tube dysfunction (ETD) in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) undergoing surgery. Fifty-seven consecutive patients who had failed medical therapy and were scheduled for endoscopic sinus surgery completed SNOT-22 and...

Is there a role for facial nerve decompression in Ramsay Hunt syndrome?

This is an interesting paper. The authors recommend a transmastoid facial decompression for patients with complete facial nerve paralysis with House Brackman HB 5/6 who do not show any sign of recovery after two weeks of treatment following a diagnosis...

Assessment and management of dysphagia in the elderly

This article covers dysphagia in older patients, which is an important topic due to an ageing population, and a relatively common symptom that we see in clinic. Dysphagia could be due to presbyphagia secondary to changes in head and neck...

Sound localisation after bilateral cochlear implantation

Limited information is known about the localisation skills of paediatric cochlear implant patients who were good hearing aid users before their hearing deteriorated. As localisation is a skill often associated with good natural hearing, there is a worry that implants...

Investigation of the role of KPNA2 biomarker in oral SCC invasiveness

This edition of Head and Neck has a strong focus on studies using immunohistochemistry (IHC) to elucidate potential roles of various cell-signalling molecules in both HNSCC and thyroid cancer. The ‘cellular-protein heavy’ title of this article may be off-putting to...

Gardasil vaccination for laryngeal RRP – an update

This paper reports the results of a follow-up study investigating the possible role of adjuvant Gardasil vaccination in patients with recurrent laryngeal papillomatosis. The preceding study – also published in the Journal of Voice (2017) – reported the changes in...

Great gains in groups: language led dementia

The number of people living with dementia is increasing as our population increases and delivering relevant and timely services can be a challenge. Group intervention provides a method of delivering services to a larger number of people and can have...

Measuring the ‘impact’ of preoperative immunonutrition

Using preoperative nutritional supplements as part of ‘enhanced recovery’ in surgical patients is not a new concept. This interesting paper looks at the latest development in optimising patients undergoing head and neck oncological surgery. Immunonutrition (Nestle’s ‘Oral Impact’ in this...

What is the prognostic value of lymph node yield and density in head and neck cancer?

Neck dissection in addition to surgery of the primary site is commonly recommended in head and neck cancer treatment. However, there has been no consensus on the number of nodes that need to be removed to constitute a sufficient neck...

Can tympanometry be used to diagnose Ménière’s disease?

The authors proposed multifrequency tympanometry (MFT) as an in-office test which may be able to diagnose Ménière’s disease (MD) that is quicker and more cost-effective than other methods. MFT measures the acoustic admittance of the middle ear and external ear...

Allergy and the ear

Allergic disease is commonly associated with asthma, eczema and rhinosinusitis. The authors reviewed possible associations between allergy and otologic diseases. The authors first explored the possible association between allergy with otitis media with effusion (OME) and found the majority of...