Journal Reviews
Operating room with a live electrical wire!
Education in healthcare is essential for enhancing patient safety, improving informed consent and enabling personal and professional development. Surgical training often focuses on common complications and the consent process for these potential adverse outcomes. But what about education on less...
A dizzying response to the silent killer
In this recent case control report by Kandemir and colleagues, we are asked to consider the association between hypertensive disease and hearing impairment, tinnitus and dizziness. A 200-strong cohort of normotensive and newly-diagnosed hypertensive patients underwent pure tone audiometry, Tinnitus...
How common is dysphagia in people with sarcopenia?
Sarcopenia, the progressive loss of muscle mass and function, affects about 10–16% of the global elderly population. The condition has also gained increased attention recently as a contributing factor to dysphagia amongst older individuals. The authors of this paper undertook...
Does surgical complexity influence hearing preservation after perimodiolar cochlear implantation?
In this prospective study, 34 adults underwent perimodiolar cochlear implantation with an extended round window approach. Three investigators reviewed fluoroscopic, electrocochleography (ECochG) and video data recorded simultaneously during the surgeries. Surgical complexity was also recorded as straightforward or complex. Residual...
Patient barriers: adult cochlear implantation systematic review
The literature across a 35-year time span highlights disproportionately low rates of cochlear implantation among adults compared to paediatric populations, despite the significant benefits of cochlear implants (CIs) for individuals with severe to profound hearing loss. Barriers span psychological, informational,...
Outcomes and progress of a well-designed one-stop head and neck lump clinic
With increasing caseload of head and neck cancer and the fact, as reported by UK Government in October 2024, that over half of these cases are diagnosed at an advanced stage, the need for early diagnosis and prompt management is...
Even titanium is not that inert
Titanium is part of most implantable metals in the human body including cochlear implants (CIs). Allergy to titanium is rare. The authors hypothesised that such an allergy could be a cause of pain in CI patients. They present a case...
How does endoscopic surgery for subglottic stenosis affect voice outcomes?
Patients with subglottic stenosis (SGS) require interventions to improve their breathing and airway patency. Increasingly, these interventions are completed endoscopically but little is known about how endoscopic surgery impacts voice outcomes. The authors of this study completed a systematic review...
Incidental paranasal sinus fungal balls
Fungal ball (FB) sinusitis, also referred to as mycetoma or aspergilloma, is a chronic non-invasive mycotic disease. This study aimed at analysing the natural history and outcomes of patients with incidental paranasal FB on imaging. This was a retrospective study...
How do you know what you don’t know?
Auditory processing disorder (APD) has been a subject for discussion for the last 20 years. Though the body of research is growing, it still lacks cohesive diagnostic and management criteria. Similar surveys on APD have taken place in other countries....
Polidocanol – a safer and equally effective alternative to ethanol for the treatment of thyroid cysts?
Percutaneous needle aspiration is a minimally invasive treatment option for thyroid cysts but suffers from a high recurrence rate (86% in 1 case series). This recurrence rate can be reduced substantially with the instillation of ethanol following aspiration. Ethanol instillation...
ADHEAR in the paediatric population
ADHEAR is a non-surgical bone conduction device (BCD) available from Med-El from 2017. It uses an adhesive adapter consisting of a soft rubber pad with a centre rigid plate that has a snap coupling for attachment of a sound processor....
