Journal Reviews
Diagnostic features of acute invasive fungal sinusitis
Acute invasive fungal sinusitis (AIFS) is a rare but frequently lethal condition, commonly associated with a high morbidity among those that survive. It has gained recent media attention on account of its increased incidence following infection with (and treatment for)...
Balloon eustachian tuboplasty and inferior turbinectomy
This Taiwanese prospective case-control study looked at concurrent inferior turbinectomy (via submucosal turbinectomy) and balloon eustachian tuboplasty on symptoms related to eustachian tube dysfunction. A total of 50 patients who underwent inferior turbinectomy with balloon eustachian tuboplasty were recruited prospectively...
Is benign intracranial hypertension underdiagnosed in patients with spontaneous CSF leaks?
In ENT practice we come across spontaneous CSF leaks. Patients present either as unilateral watery rhinorrhoea or otorrhoea, or sometimes as hearing loss with a watery middle ear effusion. Clinicians, after confirming the diagnosis of CSF leak with beta 2...
REVISIONS acronym for preoperative imaging review in revision endoscopic sinus surgery
The authors have developed an acronym to aid evaluation of preoperative sinus CT imaging in revision endoscopic sinus surgery (RESS). To determine which pertinent aspects of anatomy to include, a systemic review of studies that investigated anatomic contributions to persistent...
Does endoscopic sinus surgery for chronic rhinosinusitis improve COPD?
Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) can be associated with asthma, with a reported frequency of asthma in patients with CRS of up to 44%. COPD is another lung condition that can be associated with CRS. This longitudinal study reviewed the nasal and...
A new treatment for septal perforations?
Nasal septal perorations are notoriously difficult to close surgically and can be extremely symptomatic and debilitating for the patient. This paper describes the use of carvacrol (a monoterpene phenol of the family Lamiacaea which is often found in essential oils)....
How best to follow up a sinonasal cancer?
Sinonasal malignancies are rare tumours and, in the UK, are usually treated in tertiary treatment centres but may well be followed up long term in the patient’s local hospital, so advice on how best to manage these patients is invaluable....
Does pollution worsen inflammatory nasal problems?
This ambitious study, conducted over a period of four years, assessed 27,863 patients and compared levels of allergic rhinitis (AR) or chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) with the levels of air pollution recorded, as assessed by levels of particulate matter (PM10). They...
To scan or not to scan?
This comprehensive review article seeks to establish how useful is MRI in the evaluation of patients with a history of smell loss or distortion. Interestingly, while some studies found the imaging unhelpful, one paper described found a 25% rate of...
Can SNOT-22 predict the need for surgery?
In this prospective Belgian study, the authors looked at whether the baseline Sino-Nasal Outcome Test-22 (SNOT-22) was able to predict the need for surgery and localise the pathology of rhinology patients and healthy volunteers. A total of 66 healthy volunteers...
Postoperative bleeding rates after inferior turbinate reduction using three different techniques
The most serious complication of inferior turbinate reduction surgery is postoperative bleeding, soon after the operation or later on. In this study comprising 751 patients, the authors have compared three common methods. Partial turbinectomy involved resection of the inferior turbinate,...
Does sleep quality improve when we adequately treat CRS?
In addition to the well-known symptoms associated with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), patients often suffer with poor sleep quality which is also detrimental to health and wellbeing. This meta-analysis looked at 35 papers reporting outcomes for CRS patients post surgery on...
