WRMD in otolaryngology

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMD) are now front and centre in the practice of otolaryngology head and neck surgery, with many surgeons suffering pain, disability and shortened career spans. Common WRMDs include degenerative lumbar spine disease, rotator cuff pathology, degenerative cervical...

Office treatment for persistent rhinorrhoea

Vasomotor rhinitis (VR) is a common condition across the world. Patients suffering from VR commonly have symptoms of persistent bilateral rhinorrhoea, that can have a significant negative impact on their quality of life. Vasomotor rhinitis can be treated medically with...

Globus, reflux or perhaps both?

We rarely do an ENT clinic without encountering a patient with persistent or recurring feeling of a lump or foreign body in the throat. We are also familiar with patients dreading to hear the C word after the endoscopic examination...

Adult Rhinosinusitis Clinical Practice Guideline update

This is a summary of the ‘Clinical Practice Guideline: Adult Sinusitis’ from the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation. This is an update of the 2015 version. Evidenc-based statements: 1a. Differential diagnosis of acute rhinosinusitis: Clinicians should distinguish...

Eosinophilic complications during dupilumab therapy

Dupilumab is a humanised monoclonal antibody that targets type 2 inflammation by blocking IL-4 and IL-13 signalling. Reported adverse events from its use include injection site erythema, conjunctivitis, arthralgia and hypereosinophilia. The potential for more severe eosinophilic-related complications such as...

Around the world: cultural adaptation of speech and language therapy interventions

Communication Partner Training (CPT) is a speech and language therapy approach whereby a person with an acquired communication disorder (such as a stroke, brain injury or dementia) and a close other are supported to have better conversations. Several intervention programmes...

A faster way to manage patients with swallowing disorders with enhanced role of speech and language therapists

Allied health professionals (AHPs) make up the third largest clinical workforce in the NHS. They represent a diverse group of registered professions who play a vital role in the health service, working across various settings and with all age groups....

Dysplasia at the margins of laryngeal cancer specimens following laser resection – is conservative management appropriate?

Transoral laser microsurgery (TOLM) remains the cornerstone of treatment for early laryngeal squamous cell carcinomas. Whilst the hope is always to achieve a complete surgical excision with clear margins, it is sometimes the case that on histological analysis, disease is...

Not the answer yet, but it may be in the future

AI is certainly a topical issue these days and radiomics refers to techniques which allow the extraction of quantitative features from medical imaging to produce large data sets for clinical problem solving. This paper looks at CT imaging of the...

Chin up, doc! A few simple manoeuvres could make all the difference in FNE

Flexible nasendoscopy (FNE) is an ENT surgeon’s bread and butter. It is integral and often considered superior to conventional radiography in the assessment of laryngeal and pharyngeal cancers. However, it is not as simple as sticking the camera in and...

Cognitive development in children with cochlear implants

This systematic review investigates the comparative cognitive outcomes in children using bilateral versus unilateral cochlear implants, as well as those using cochlear implants versus hearing aids. The review synthesises findings from 30 studies involving a total of 11,986 children and...

Occupation, role and performance in adults: a comparative study

The authors investigate the occupations of adults with cochlear implants (CI) compared to those with hearing impairment without implants (HI) and individuals with normal hearing (NH). A total of 204 participants were included: 98 CI users, 52 HI individuals and...