Therese Schembri, Higher specialist trainee in ENT
A highly successful French-Maltese ORL symposium hosted by Professor Adrian Agius was held in Malta in November 2025. ORL-75 refers to the post code of Paris. Forty Parisian ORL specialists and head and neck surgeons visited the island to participate in a joint scientific meeting headed by President Gilles Besnainou and Vice-President Alexandre-Claude Timsit. 
The symposium featured diverse presentations on management of snoring, Mediterranean septorhinoplasty, head and neck oncology and robotic surgery in oropharyngeal cancer.
Alec Lapira gave an update on tinnitus guidelines and cognitive behavioural therapy was noted to be a very effective treatment for tinnitus not related to otological conditions due to the psychological distress it may lead to.
A presentation regarding the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in medical diagnosis was administered by Paul Henri Depoortere. It was interesting to hear how AI could be involved in history taking in the near future and may even be able to reach a diagnosis. 
There was a heated discussion on the criteria for hearing aid prescription in France and Malta. Top-of-the-line hearing aids are given free by the state to patients suffering from hearing loss no matter the age and social class. In Malta, patients have to undergo a means test before being deemed eligible to receive free hearing aids from the state.
Karim Atroun discussed his research on new cardiovascular biomarkers, which were found to be related to moderate-severe obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). Sleep apnoea was one of the main topics discussed, in fact, the French otorhinolaryngologists have become skilled in the manufacture of mandibular advancement prostheses that significantly reduced the apnoea/hypopnoea index in these patients. Such prostheses are a cost-effective alternative to cPAP and are reimbursed by the French state system. They seem promising since they would reduce the number of OSA surgeries and associated healthcare costs.
President Gilles Besnainou with Prof Adrian Agius (right).
Prof Adrian Agius gave an analytic overview of the techniques used in 1000 septorhinoplasty patients in the central Mediterranean; men tended to need more structural septoplasty work with spreader grafts while women tended to have more tip rotation and refinement.
Michela Manfre and I presented the guidelines we developed with the neurologists for Mater Dei Hospital in Malta regarding patients presenting to the emergency department with dizziness. The guidelines highlighted the importance of early identification of high-risk patients with central pathology to safeguard them and reduce the influx of dizzy patients to the ENT casualty department.
Last but by no means least, the attendees were treated to a presentation regarding the medical aspects of the Maltese-Napoleonic siege of 1798-1900 by historian Prof Savona Ventura.
Congress participants at the Hospital of the Knights of Malta.
A highlight of the visit was a personalised tour to the Hospital of the Knights of Malta, built in Valletta in 1574 and which accommodated a thousand patients at a time, easily the largest hospital in Europe at its time.
This meeting cemented the cultural and European legacy between Malta and France, with a reciprocal visit to Paris planned for 6 June 2026.
