Telehealth for cochlear implant follow-up care

For individuals with moderate-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss, cochlear implants are a highly effective form of hearing rehabilitation. Despite their effectiveness, utilisation is low, with approximately only 12.7% of suitable adult candidates receiving implants. Barriers to access include the geographic distribution...

BPPV and pregnancy

This narrative review explores the limited evidence surrounding benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) during pregnancy. Although BPPV is the most common vestibular disorder and is known to affect women more frequently than men, the literature specifically examining its occurrence in...

25 years of forearm free flaps – 1 vein or 2?

This is a prospective 25-year study from 1998 to 2023 of 368 forearm free flaps, 314 of which were radial and 54 ulnar in 364 patients. Of these, 68 had 1 venous anastomosis whilst 238 had 2. These were assessed...

Frozen sections; a systematic review

This systematic review and meta-analysis looked at 5 studies assessing the impact of intraoperative frozen section analysis on final margin status, locoregional recurrence and survival in patients with an oral squamous cell carcinoma. The analysis showed no significant difference in...

Biometric facial recognition after bimaxillary surgery

This paper aimed to assess the facial recognition capability of a commercially available software program in patients who’d undergone orthognathic surgery. It is a retrospective study of 24 patients, 12 class II and 12 class III dentofacial deformities. The preop...

Role of high-resolution CT scans in the management of cholesteatoma

This review article has looked at 15 publications, comparing features noted in high-resolution CT (HRCT) scans of patients having cholesteatoma with actual intraoperative findings. This comparison was used to assess sensitivity and specificity of various abnormalities picked up by HRCT...

The BAYAD alar technique – visual landmark guided paradigm in alar base reduction

Alar base reduction can be a technically demanding component in rhinoplasty, especially within the ethnically diverse populations where rigid anthropometric norms may not apply. Mahmood introduces the Balanced Aesthetic Yielding of Alar Design (BAYAD) technique – a rulerless intraoperative visual...

Persistent postural perceptual dizziness following stroke: the risk factors

The primary motivation for the study, as stated by the authors, was that the factors behind persistent postural perceptual dizziness (PPPD) have not been clearly determined in stroke patients. To that end, a prospective study of adults presenting to a...

Does ipratropium responsiveness predict posterior nasal nerve neurectomy/ablation outcomes in chronic rhinitis?

This study’s main objective was to assess whether topical ipratropium response is predictive of subsequent response to posterior nasal nerve (PNN) interventions, including surgical neurectomy or in-office ablation, in chronic rhinitis (CR). This is a retrospective study of adult patients...

Where is that sound? Not every hot tub is a jacuzzi

Evidence suggests that the incidence of sound sensitivity and general noise intolerance is increasing. Studies have suggested that the incidence of hyperacusis is between 8% and 15.2% of the adult population. There is a correlation between the prevalence of hyperacusis...

A new tool to enhance smell recovery?

Vericiguat is a soluble guanylate cyclase activator which boosts intracellular cGMP and promotes smooth muscle relaxation. It is approved for use in heart failure, but the authors hypothesise that it may also enhance neuronal olfactory signalling via cGMP elevation. Eighty-eight...

Can PRP injections treat atrophic rhinitis?

As we all know, atrophic rhinitis is a thankfully rare but debilitating condition characterised by nasal obstruction, dryness, crusting and foul smell (ozaena). There are currently minimal treatment options available, none of which have proven particularly effective. The authors present...