Journal Reviews
Remote consultations: bringing ENT in to the 21st century
The ongoing peaks and troughs of the COVID-19 pandemic have imposed unprecedented challenges on day-to-day healthcare provision that we all took as given across the globe prior to spring 2020! The pandemic has, in many ways, made us push boundaries...
Better or barrier: what do healthcare professionals think about teletherapy?
Most healthcare professionals will have had to dabble in using some kind of telehealth platform over the last 18 months or so. And most of us will have had some reservations, or have colleagues who just weren’t sure about Zoom,...
A new tool for assessing otoscopy skills
Medical and audiology students need to be proficient in performing otoscopy in order to undertake the routine practice required of them at work upon graduation. One significant challenge in teaching otoscopy is the lack of objective and validated assessment tools...
Intraoperative identification of primary tumours in unknown primary head and neck cancer using transoral laser microsurgery with frozen sections
The aim of the study was to compare the sensitivity and specificity of intraoperative identification of primary tumours in patients with unknown primary head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (UP HNSCC) using transoral laser microsurgery (TLM) with frozen sections, with...
A novel scale for the assessment of tracheoesophageal voice quality – the SToPS
There is currently no assessment tool in widespread use that permits a valid and reliable perceptual assessment of voice quality following laryngectomy. Such a scale is needed to investigate the functional outcomes of surgical voice restoration and rehabilitation regimes. Existing...
Socially appropriate part 1: assessing people with TBI
Social communication disorders are one of the most common and yet most under-addressed sequelae of a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Yet speech and language therapists report a lack of assessment tools and a lack of time to fully assess these...
Monitoring the mouth in ALS
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS; or motor neurone disease) is characterised by gradual loss of function in the speech muscles resulting in a progressive deterioration in a person’s ability to communicate. The aim of this study was to investigate the use...
Which self-reported tinnitus and hyperacusis questionnaires are useful?
Tinnitus and hyperacusis may have very negative psychological side-effects. Due to their subjective nature it is important to have appropriate tools to assess them. In addition to the routine questionnaires such as THI, HQ, ISI, HADS or VAS, the authors...
Preoperative planning of the surgical patient
This article covers the need to effectively optimise patient status preoperatively to help maximise postoperative outcomes. The article is well written and emphasises close liaison with anaesthetic colleagues particularly regarding airway assessment and nausea and vomiting. As is becoming common...
FESS for recurrent acute rhinosinusitis: at last, some data
As noted in both the EPOS 2012 and in the (more recent) ICARS 2016, there is a paucity of evidence on the effectiveness of surgery for recurrent acute rhinosinusitis (RARS). The authors used a control group of patients with CRSsNP,...
Snap: do voice patients’ self-ratings match the professionals or the machines?
Self-rating by people with voice disorders and perceptual assessments by speech and language therapists are generally quicker and cheaper than acoustic voice analysis. Reports, with small sample sizes and mixed participant groups, on whether these measures are associated have demonstrated...
Preoperative risk factors: when do you need to refer to the haematologist?
It is essential that clinicians are able to identify and assess which patients are in the high risk category for bleeding during ENT surgery. A full history, including medications, herbal remedies taken, any other medical co-morbidities and family history of...
