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Avoiding the sweaty cheek

Frey’s syndrome is a common (10-40%) and important complication following parotid surgery. Gustatory sweating during oral stimulation can be embarrassing as it is accompanied by flushing and a sensation of heat. This is as a direct result of regenerated parasympathetic...

Do adhesions actually cause nasal blockage?

All of us who perform nasal surgery are familiar with the disappointing presence of nasal adhesions (NA) or synechiae in our postop patients. These can often lead to patients deriving less perceived benefit from their surgery than that which they...

What works better for type 3 tympanoplasty?

This is a systematic review comparing incus transposition (IT) and partial ossicular replacement prosthesis (PORP). There is a total of 14 articles, obtaining 1055 patients: 614 for the IT group and 441 for the PORP group. All included patients had...

A novel way to reduce postoperative nausea and vomiting

This is an interesting RCT which evaluates the prophylactic effect of bilateral endoscopic injection of local anaesthetic in the sphenopalatine ganglion (SPG) on postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV). It has a robust design, and is sufficiently powered and blinded, with...

Multisystem pathology in refractory otitis media with effusion

Recurrent middle ear effusion is a common problem and so is rhinosinusitis with polyposis. It is not often thought that the problem could be linked to multisystem pathology, such as eosinophilic granulomatous with polyposis. Therefore, repeated grommet insertions and surgical...

Transcutaneous vs. percutaneous bone conduction devices

Bone conduction devices (BCD) have proven to be effective options for hearing amplification in patients who are not candidates for conventional hearing aids. This study prospectively surveyed 70 patients with BCD using the COSI (Client Oriented Scale of Improvement) and...

Lymph node ratio is a significant predictor for loco-regional recurrence after neck dissection in patients with papillary thyroid cancer

Lymph node metastases are common in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC), yet the impact of nodal metastases on survival remains unclear. Lymph node density (LND) is the ratio between the number of positive lymph nodes excised and the total number of...

How best to manage single-sided deafness?

Nowadays there is a plethora of options for patients with single-sided deafness (SSD) including: Bluetooth contralateral routing of signal (CROS) aids; in-the-ear bone conduction hearing aids (TransEar); intra-oral bone conduction aids (SoundBite) and bone-anchored technologies (BAHA). Unilateral cochlear implantation is...

What should be considered a ‘close’ margin in oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma?

Achieving clear margins during surgical resection in oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OCSCC) is thought to reduce local recurrence (LR) and improve prognosis; however, what constitutes a clear, close, or involved margin is inconsistent in the literature and in practice....

Multi-layered repair of lateral sphenoid CSF rhinorrhoea

This case series describes the author’s results with repairing lateral sphenoid encephalocoeles in seven patients. Alloderm inlay with abdominal fat onlay and nasoseptal flap onlay repair resulted in a 100% success rate with no recurrence of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) rhinorrhoea,...

Cinch suture: Does it work?

Flaring of the nostrils is a common side-effect of a maxillary osteotomy. At times flaring is minimal or of no significance. In some instances, it can be a significant postoperative concern to the patient, even to the extent of declining...

Same, same: similarities in conversation between people with dementia and aphasia and their loved ones

This article proposes that studying the commonalities between the effect of dementia and aphasia (post stroke language impairment) on communication could result in greater sharing of clinically relevant interventions. To date the separate study has resulted in significant separation of...