Journal Reviews
How quality improvement helped to create local guidelines for good tracheostomy care
Significant morbidity and mortality is associated with tracheostomy insertion. A complex, multistep process exists to help patients towards decannulation. This process is often complicated by patient comorbidities, discontinuity of care and communication as patients move through hospital, and variable experience...
Predicting aspiration pneumonia in adults
Aspiration occurs when oropharyngeal or gastric contents are inhaled into the larynx and lower respiratory tract. When the aspirated material is colonised by pathogenic microorganisms, this may result in aspiration pneumonia. In contrast, aspiration of sterile gastric contents may lead...
Is tonsillectomy performed any better by trained surgeons compared with trainees?
Tonsillectomy is one of the most common operations performed in otolaryngology. Training in this procedure therefore needs to begin early in the formative years, while also complying with patient safety and cost-effectiveness requirements. This randomised prospective study compares tonsillectomy with...
Do in-office steroid injections help for idiopathic subglottic stenosis?
Idiopathic subglottic stenosis (iSGS) is a narrowing of the trachea of unknown cause, usually affecting middle-aged Caucasian women. In-office intralesional steroid injection (SILSI) is a recent advance in minimally invasive treatment aiming to reduce inflammation and scarring. The authors of...
How common is dysphagia in people with sarcopenia?
Sarcopenia, the progressive loss of muscle mass and function, affects about 10–16% of the global elderly population. The condition has also gained increased attention recently as a contributing factor to dysphagia amongst older individuals. The authors of this paper undertook...
How does endoscopic surgery for subglottic stenosis affect voice outcomes?
Patients with subglottic stenosis (SGS) require interventions to improve their breathing and airway patency. Increasingly, these interventions are completed endoscopically but little is known about how endoscopic surgery impacts voice outcomes. The authors of this study completed a systematic review...
Profiling features of dysphagia in people with moderate to severe Covid-19
Dysphagia arose as a serious concern for many people affected by Covid-19, especially those who required intubation. The authors of this paper used data from an institutional database of 3660 patients (Jan 2020 – March 2022) who presented with moderate...
An analysis of laryngeal dysplasia cases in terms of progression to invasive cancer
In this retrospective study, authors assess the rate of dysplasia progression to invasive cancer in a cohort of 221 patients presenting with primary laryngeal dysplasia, followed over a period of over 13 years. Patient demographics and independent risk factors for...
Swallowing assessments of the future: the role of artificial intelligence
The future’s bright, the future’s Orange AI… If you Google ‘how much is AI worth?’, the AI overview tells you “The global artificial intelligence (AI) market size is estimated at approximately $244 billion to $391 billion in 2025 and is...
Management of peritonsillar abscesses – should we be offering a hot tonsillectomy?
Peritonsillar abscesses (PTAs) are one of the most common reasons for patients being referred to ENT services on an emergent basis worldwide. The conventional treatment for adult patients with a PTA in the UK involves needle aspiration or incision and...
Laryngocele: a rare but complex disease associated with laryngeal cancer
The incidence of laryngocele is very low – 2.5 per million but its occurrence can be associated with cancer of the larynx. In this retrospective study of 14 cases over 10 years, the authors have elaborated on aetio-pathology, which is...
What factors lead to poor outcomes for children with acute post-intubation laryngeal injuries?
Endotracheal intubation is well known to carry a risk of acute laryngeal injury. These problems range in severity and can lead to chronic problems but, when laryngeal injuries are identified and treated early, there are fewer complications. The authors of...
