Sudden sensorineural hearing loss – who will get better?

Idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL) is a rare but potentially devastating condition. For patients presenting with this condition, prognosis is of paramount importance. Wu et al begin to address this issue by retrospectively studying 17 potential prognostic factors for...

Paediatric idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss

This Turkish retrospective study looked at the radiological and clinical characteristics, prognostic factors and treatment outcomes in children diagnosed with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL). Forty-eight children were included over an eight-year period. Complete recovery (CR) was achieved in...

Intratympanic steroids - to give or not to give?

The treatment of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL) is controversial and different modes of steroids have been tried without any universal consensus. Various authors have reported combined oral and intratympanic steroid therapy in SSNHL, with consistent results in several...

Iatrogenic vocal fold paralysis – the time to recovery

Iatrogenic vocal fold paralysis can result from stretching, compression or complete transection of recurrent laryngeal or vagus nerves. These injuries are a significant source of concern for patients and clinicians alike. The question is how long should we wait for...

The hot nose

Capsaicin nasal spray can offer moderate to significant symptomatic relief to 70-80% of patients with idiopathic rhinitis (IR). Efficacy was also shown in lab studies. Nasal hyper reactivity (NHR), absence of allergy / infective rhinosinusitis, age limits (18-60), no anatomical...

Blood type and epistaxis

In this Turkish study, the authors attempted to determine if there was an association between ABO blood type and epistaxis. They looked at 359 epistaxis admissions at the same hospital over a three-year period. Only patients with idiopathic epistaxis were...