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Chronic rhinosinusitis and sleep

This is an interesting article from the Chung Shan Medical University in Taiwan. One-hundred-and-thirty-nine patients were enrolled into this five-year study. They all had chronic rhinosinusitis with or without polyposis and underwent sinus surgery. The aim was to investigate a...

Assessing surgical tracheostomy skills

Surgical tracheostomy is an essential operation that trainees must be competent in. There is a lot of research currently looking into assessing trainees’ surgical abilities, particularly into assessments that can be used to demonstrate progress, so this article is very...

Predictors of complications in patients undergoing oral cavity cancer surgery

Surgical management of oral cavity cancers is complex, frequently involving extensive resections and complicated reconstructions. Quantification of risk in an individual patient may allow surgeons to more effectively identify patients at higher risk of complications and develop strategies for prevention,...

Does teaching affect patient satisfaction?

Teaching practice on real patients has several advantages in terms of lower costs and genuine clinical material but it is often a concern that using real patients for undergraduate teaching may result in patient dissatisfaction and many patients would prefer...

Botox application for drooling shrinks salivary glands

The large majority of sialorrhoea (drooling) in paediatric patients is managed conservatively. However in severe cases, often where there is associated developmental delay or a motor disorder, medical and surgical techniques can be used to decrease salivary flow. Botulinum toxin...

Speech audiometry tests in elderly patients with mild cognitive impairment

This paper caught my eye because, with our ageing population, mild cognitive impairment and dementia are a major, growing problem. We know that ageing causes a multitude of medical and social issues. So it seems wise to investigate the effects...

Coblation versus microdebrider submucosal inferior turbinoplasty

This prospective randomised study from Riyadh compares submucosal coblation and submucosal microdebrider inferior turbinate reduction. Seventy patients were recruited who had failed medical treatment and were undergoing isolated inferior turbinate surgery. Outcome measures included the Friedman score and VAS for...

Botulinum toxin in ENT

This comprehensive review neatly summarises non-cosmetic uses of botulinum toxin within otorhinolaryngology, it is perhaps easy to forget the medical use of botulinum toxin has now been approved for the last thirty years. Its overall safety profile places it as...

Vestibular screening in occupational medicine

Occupational vestibular disorders carry a high medico legal and economic burden. The occupational medicine physician must rely on rapid, non-invasive, economical and reproducible screening tests. This article compares the simplified caloric test of Veits (CTV) with the skull vibration-induced nystagmus...

Decreased paediatric myringotomy and insertion of ventilation tube rates during Covid 2019 pandemic

This study involves a province in Canada and claims that the need for paediatric myringotomy and insertion of grommets reduced to a third with public health measures aimed at reducing transmission of respiratory viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, in the Covid-19 pandemic....