Journal Reviews
Improving music perception in cochlear implant users
Can you imagine a world without music? In the words of Hans Christian Anderson, a prolific 19th-century Danish author, “Where words fail, music speaks.” This quote highlights music’s importance as a language of emotions that transcends linguistic barriers. This case...
Endolymphatic sac surgery (ESS) revisited
Ever since the destructive articles by Toss and coworkers, ESS was considered a taboo. However more and more centres are reviving it and report favourable results in properly selected patients. In this article the authors conducted a retrospective, single-centre observational...
Bell’s palsy outcomes
Bell’s palsy is a common, idiopathic, unilateral facial paresis or paralysis of sudden onset. This retrospective study reviewed the records of 193 patients diagnosed with Bell’s palsy. The patient’s clinical data, House-Brackman (h-B) grade, and data from five electrophysiological tests...
Posterior TM perforations carry greater hearing loss: practical pointers for clinic
This single-centre prospective study of 100 adults with central pars tensa perforations examined how perforation size and quadrant relate to hearing loss. Using video-otoscopy to estimate perforation area and pure tone audiometry for thresholds, the authors found hearing loss in...
Starry eyed?
Attentive listening and active listening skills suggest that eye movement is an important factor in subject engagement. Indeed, when asked, AI suggests gaze is held for 70% of the time when listening. Although the route of this percentage is unclear,...
Risk factors for postop ventilation following free flap reconstruction
This study, conducted in the United States, analysed 144 patients undergoing free flap surgery. Of these, 51 patients were extubated within 48 hours postoperatively, while 93 remained intubated for more than 48 hours. The mean duration of ventilation was 36...
3D planning of soft-to-hard tissue ratios in orthognathic surgery
This multinational systematic review examined publications over a six-year period up to December 2023, focusing on orthognathic surgery. It follows an earlier review by the same group, which had reported low validity in the use of 3D software for soft-to-hard...
How do you actually get therapists to do the therapy you need them to?
Aphasia is an acquired communication disorder that affects approximately a third of people who have a stroke and for which speech and language therapy is the main treatment. However, there are known gaps between evidence-based recommendations and the delivery of...
Eustachian tube dilatation can be done as an office procedure
Symptoms of eustachian tube dysfunction can often prove stressful and the treatment can be quite challenging in terms of sustained improvement. In this study, 31 patients underwent eustachian tube dilatation under local anaesthesia. The procedure is based on the concept...
Laryngocele: a rare but complex disease associated with laryngeal cancer
The incidence of laryngocele is very low – 2.5 per million but its occurrence can be associated with cancer of the larynx. In this retrospective study of 14 cases over 10 years, the authors have elaborated on aetio-pathology, which is...
Cochlear implant, Ménière’s no more
Implanting Ménière’s disease (MD) patients with cochlear implant (CI) may improve their speech recognition, tinnitus and quality of life with comparable hearing benefits to those seen in controls without MD, even if labyrinthectomy has also been performed. Authors investigated the...
How should one care for the operated nose?
Although the past decade has brought advances in rhinoplasty techniques, postoperative care continues to be an area marked by notable variation among surgeons. The authors of this study sought to document contemporary postoperative practices for primary and revision rhinoplasty through...
