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Power tools dance off

The use of the harmonic scalpel is popular with some head and neck surgeons. This study looked at selective neck dissections for 40 patients with oral cavity carcinoma. They were randomised into harmonic scalpel (HS) use and monopolar electrocautery. The...

Anatomy for Plastic Surgery of the Face, Head, and Neck

This textbook couldn’t have arrived with better timing. As an ENT trainee soon to sit the FRCS(ORL-HNS) with an interest in facial plastics, I can comfortably say this is incredibly useful to have in the library. The book should suit...

Are elective neck dissections needed during salvage laryngectomy?

There has recently been a move away from elective neck dissections in the setting of salvage laryngectomy. This has mainly resulted from an appreciation of the increase in morbidity, in particular pharyngocutaneous fistula formation, and an improvement in cross-sectional imaging...

Virtual reality simulation training for cochlear implant surgery

Temporal bone virtual reality (VR) simulation training has been shown to be a useful tool for learning mastoidectomy. The authors aimed to evaluate the role of VR in cochlear implant (CI) surgery. The study was performed as part of a...

Lymph node ratio in tongue cancer

This is an analysis of 88 patients treated in Switzerland between 2003 and 2012. All patients had a selective neck dissection and recurrence occurred in 25 patients. Overall and disease specific survival were 72% and 80%. They specifically looked at...

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...

Thyroid cancer: to dissect the neck or not?

This is a good review of the much-debated management of the neck in thyroid cancer. It discusses oncological goals that must be achieved whilst maintaining voice, swallowing and parathyroid function. A clear description is made of the common nodal basins...

Technique for benign tumours in the tail of the parotid gland

This is a retrospective study of 89 patients from China, 49 of whom were treated surgically by a partial superficial parotidectomy through retrograde approach, and 40 treated as an extracapsular dissection for benign tumours of the tail of the parotid...

Directional microphones and speech

This study aimed to research how speech recognition, listening effort and localisation depends on hearing aids’ microphone configuration in people with moderate to severe hearing losses. Eighteen participants with sensorineural, symmetrical, moderate to severe hearing loss were tested. Participants were...

Which da Vinci surgical system? Novel flexible, single-port versus current multiport, rigid-arm robotic surgical system

The da Vinci robotic surgical system has transformed how oropharyngeal head and neck surgery can be delivered. The existing da Vinci Si model has challenges: the dimensions of this are larger than would be ideal for head and neck surgery...