Journal Reviews
Peripheral nerve reconstruction using cell-enhanced acellular nerve grafts
Autologous nerve grafts are the current gold standard for peripheral nerve reconstruction. This systematic review analyses the role of cell-enhanced acellular nerve (ANA) grafts on the regeneration of peripheral nerve injuries. Several studies have been published to examine alternatives to...
Assessment and management of dysphagia in the elderly
This article covers dysphagia in older patients, which is an important topic due to an ageing population, and a relatively common symptom that we see in clinic. Dysphagia could be due to presbyphagia secondary to changes in head and neck...
How to tackle the problem of ciprofloxacin-resistant ear infections?
The growing issue of ciprofloxacin-resistant ear organisms is certainly a pertinent one. The situation here in the UK, where ototoxic topical drops are frequently given initially in the presence of pus and a perforation, differs markedly from elsewhere where fluoroquinolones...
Does surgery work for acquired stenosis of the ear canal in the long term?
The surgical treatment of acquired post-inflammatory atresia of the external auditory canal (EAC), namely meatoplasty, is challenging with variable long-term outcome. This study looked at the clinical, audiological data, long-term outcome and patient satisfaction after performing meatoplasty. Sixteen patients were...
Tinnitus in children
This is a review article about the management of tinnitus in children. In the end the authors came up with just three papers that made the grade. Maybe the most interesting finding was from Vianni in the JLO in 1989....
DIY Epley manoeuvre
This is an interesting paper that looks at getting patients to do their own particle repositioning manoeuvre (PRM) after having it done by a clinician (‘Epley’ to you and me although there are some slight differences) once a week for...
eSRTs versus eCAP: Which is better?
Electrically evoked compound action potentials (eCAP) and electrically evoked stapedius reflex threshold (eSRT) techniques were compared to establish how well the two techniques correlated and which yielded quicker results in a group of paediatric cochlear implant (CI) users. This team...
Sound localisation after bilateral cochlear implantation
Limited information is known about the localisation skills of paediatric cochlear implant patients who were good hearing aid users before their hearing deteriorated. As localisation is a skill often associated with good natural hearing, there is a worry that implants...
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...
Cerebrospinal fluid leaks after vestibular schwannoma surgery
This study analyses 30-day readmission data after vestibular schwannoma surgery using a multicentre longitudinal State of California dataset. The authors studied risk factors, and timing of readmission in 6820 patients over 15 years. Of these, 490 readmissions were reported for...
Management of patients with advanced otosclerosis
This paper discusses the management options of advanced otosclerosis. There are several definitions for advanced otosclerosis in the literature but, more recently, the diagnosis of advanced otoscletosis has been reserved for patients who have less than 30% aided speech discrimination...
Treating middle ear conditions in developing countries
This month’s journal issue discussed global health in otolaryngology with this paper focusing on the management of chronic middle ear disease in the developing world. Chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) is more common in developing countries. The reason for this...
