Journal Reviews

Speech predictors after glossectomy

2 March 2022 | | Head and Neck | classification, glossectomy, head and neck cancer, mouth neoplasms, speech intelligibility

This is a cross-sectional study from India where 69 patients were assessed for speech intelligibility and phonetics using an assessment tool in the local language. Volume defects were classified into thirds and the location of this defect noted. Not unsurprisingly,...

Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery journal front cover image

Treatment of internal carotid artery blowout with embolisation and bypass grafting (nasopharyngeal carcinoma)

6 September 2021 | | Head and Neck, Skull Base Surgery | bypass, carotid blowout syndrome, embolization, head and neck cancer, oral and nasal massive hemorrhage

Carotid artery blowout syndrome (CBS) occurs when there is rupture of the carotid artery causing massive epistaxis and bleeding through the oral cavity caused by tumour invasion, surgery, radiotherapy, or infection. This article proposes a revascularisation strategy for internal carotid...

Core biopsies are good enough for lymphomas

1 July 2021 | | Head and Neck | Lymphoma, diagnostic efficacy, head and neck cancer, lymphoma diagnosis, ultrasound-guided core biopsy

This paper, from the South of England, has reviewed ultrasound-guided core needle biopsies over a six-year period investigating the use of the detection of head and neck lymphomas. There were 367 samples included from 226 patients; 215 of the 226...

Head and Neck journal cover image.

Predicting the need for salvage laryngectomy

2 November 2020 | | Head and Neck | chemotherapy, head and neck cancer, machine learning, radiation therapy, salvage laryngectomy

The treatment of laryngeal cancer has seen a shift towards organ preservation strategies with non-surgical treatment offering equivalent survival outcomes. Nonetheless, salvage total laryngectomy (SLT) remains an important curative management option in cases of treatment failure or recurrence. The authors...

Intraoperative identification of primary tumours in unknown primary head and neck cancer using transoral laser microsurgery with frozen sections

30 April 2020 | | Head and Neck | head and neck cancer, intraoperative margin assessment, squamous cell carcinoma, transoral laser microsurgery, unknown primary tumor

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...

OTOLARYNGOLOGY- HEAD AND NECK SURGERY cover image

Elevated prevalence of late-onset dysphagia among head and neck cancer survivors and identifying risk factors

7 January 2020 | | Head and Neck | dysphagia, head and neck cancer, late effects, squamous cell carcinoma, survivorship

Dysphagia is one of the most common problems affecting head and neck cancer (HNC) survivors. There are few studies investigating late-onset dysphagia post-treatment. The authors set out to investigate the prevalence of dysphagia-related diagnoses and procedures five years’ post-treatment, changes...

Lymph node ratio in tongue cancer

1 September 2019 | | Head and Neck | head and neck cancer, neck dissection, survival rate, tongue cancer

This is an analysis of 88 patients treated in Switzerland between 2003 and 2012. All patients had a selective neck dissection and recurrence occurred in 25 patients. Overall and disease specific survival were 72% and 80%. They specifically looked at...

Measuring the ‘impact’ of preoperative immunonutrition

1 September 2018 | | head and neck cancer, head and neck surgery, immunonutrition, length of hospital stay, wound infections

Using preoperative nutritional supplements as part of ‘enhanced recovery’ in surgical patients is not a new concept. This interesting paper looks at the latest development in optimising patients undergoing head and neck oncological surgery. Immunonutrition (Nestle’s ‘Oral Impact’ in this...

What is the prognostic value of lymph node yield and density in head and neck cancer?

1 September 2018 | | head and neck cancer, lymph node ratio, lymph node yield, prognostic value, systematic review

Neck dissection in addition to surgery of the primary site is commonly recommended in head and neck cancer treatment. However, there has been no consensus on the number of nodes that need to be removed to constitute a sufficient neck...

What to do with incidental findings on FDG PET/CT?

1 July 2018 | | CT, PET, PET/CT, findings, head and neck cancer, imaging, incidental

18F-fluoro-deoxy-glucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG PET/CT) is commonly used in head and neck cancer staging. This investigation frequently identifies incidental findings unrelated to the index head and neck cancer. To assess the nature of these incidental findings, notes of...

An algorithm to distinguish between distant metastases and metachronous lung primary in patients with HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer

1 March 2018 | | head and neck cancer, human papillomavirus, lung nodule, oropharyngeal cancer, pulmonary metastases

Distinguishing between distant metastases of HPV-related oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) and metachronous primary lung squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is important as it has implications for treatment, prognosis counselling, and registry data. Although p16 immunohistochemistry (p16 IHC) is widely accepted...

Evidence for diagnostic role of narrow band imaging in the outpatient setting for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

1 November 2017 | | chronic laryngitis, dysplasia, endoscopy, head and neck cancer, narrow band imaging, premalignant lesions, squamous cell carcinoma

Narrow band imaging (NBI) uses light in the blue and green spectrum to differentiate areas of carcinoma from normal or inflammatory tissue. This tertiary referral head and neck unit in Spain used white light endoscopy as initial screening for all...

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