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The GP and the ear

General practitioners are the first members of the medical community to deal with ear problems. In this survey, 11 GPs examined 124 patients using a regular otoscope and a video-otoscope and reported their findings in a 10-item table. The same...

Videofluoroscopic swallowing studies: balancing risks and benefits

Videofluoroscopic swallow studies (VFSS) are an important part of the diagnostic toolkit and arguably the current gold-standard for assessing swallow biomechanics and diagnosing dysphagia. However, the procedure does involve exposure to radiation, and any clinician requesting this should be able...

Revolutionising medical writing: the power of language models in the clinic

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is taking the world by storm at the moment. We hear how AI might influence the letters we write in clinic. As a clinician, the process of writing a clinical letter can be time-consuming and challenging. It...

Zinc and rhinosinusitis

Patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) in general, and those with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) in particular, have been shown to have down-regulation of tight junction genes. Zinc, on the other hand, is well-known for its role in immune regulation and deficiency...

Steroids for vocal cord mucus retention cysts

This is an interesting paper that describes the use of intralesional steroid injections to treat vocal cord mucus retention cysts. The gold standard is microlaryngoscopy and excision of the lesion. In patients who may be unable to undergo surgery, this...

Successful laser treatment of a laryngeal cause of dizziness

Dizziness is often considered to be a condition that is best managed by physicians or otologists. This case report describes an unusual cause of presyncope successfully treated by a laryngologist. The patient in question was a 45-year-old member of the...

Chronic rhinosinusitis, are we treating the same disease?

Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a heterogenic disease. The effects of heterogeneity on treatment outcome are not very clear. Authors used clinical features such as endoscopic findings scores and full blood count findings in addition to analysis of 35 molecular markers....

A review of significant issues in the management of obstructive sleep apnoea in children

There are considerable variations in the management of obstructive sleep apnoea in children and this suggests a need for more research and evidence-based information. In this review article, the authors address four key issues. Literature compares tonsillectomy with tonsillotomy, the...

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...

What is balloon eustachian tuboplasty (BET)?

Eustachian tube dysfunction (ETD) is the result of a combination of factors that interfere with the mucosal functional or cartilaginous structures. Failure to open the eustachian tubes can cause aural pain, pressure in the ears, muffled hearing, crackling/popping sounds in...

Sleep before and after nasal polyposis surgery

This prospective French study looked at the change in nasal symptoms related to sleep, in a questionnaire before and after nasal polyposis surgery. Sixty-three patients who underwent endoscopic sinus surgery completed the DyNaChron questionnaire before, at six weeks and at...

Healthcare economics and device approvals

We use several FDA-approved devices in our clinical practice but are rarely aware about the stringent procedures followed by manufacturers, as well as the FDA, before the devices become commercially available. The authors of this paper undertook a comprehensive review...