Journal Reviews
Macrolinguistic assessment in early Alzheimer’s disease
Deficits in language production like word finding difficulty, and lexical-sematic impairment have been documented early in the course of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). According to the authors, the current language assessment methods used in AD patients do not account for macrolinguistic...
Is bone scanning still of value?
This is an article from Australia of 109 patients, 83 of which had CT, 72 MRI and the presence of bone invasion on imaging was compared with the histopathology. Bone invasion was present in 44 of 109 resection specimens. Bone...
Bone grafting in orthognathic surgery
In this systematic review of 48 articles the authors reviewed the complication, stability, aesthetics and healing of Le Fort I, sagittal split, chin and zygomatic osteotomies. They concluded that there was strong evidence that bone grafting promotes healing of a...
Socially appropriate part 1: assessing people with TBI
Social communication disorders are one of the most common and yet most under-addressed sequelae of a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Yet speech and language therapists report a lack of assessment tools and a lack of time to fully assess these...
Socially appropriate part II: therapy for people with TBI
Social communication is a complex behaviour comprising social and cognitive communication skills. Providing speech and language therapy (SLT) interventions for people with social communication difficulties following traumatic brain injury (TBI) requires the clinician to understand how ingredients from an evidence-based...
A global survey of tracheostomy healthcare provision and patient participation: requirements for improvement
Patients with tracheostomy require comprehensive care which should begin in the preoperative phase and go through immediate postoperative and discharge phases with patient involvement as well. The authors assessed this with a multicentre, cross-sectional survey using a mailing list held...
Do steroids improve outcome in acute vestibular neuritis?
The role of steroids in short and long-term recovery from acute vestibular neuritis has been a subject of debate for several years. The authors reported findings of a prospective randomised trial in 60 adult patients. Inclusion criteria were acute vertigo...
Bamboo nodes – a case series
Bamboo nodes are band-like, cream-coloured submucosal deposits affecting the middle third of the vocal cord. They are reported to affect women exclusively and are frequently bilateral but can be asymmetrical. They are distinct from vocal cord nodules but can be...
Facial palsy: What do patients and healthcare care about?
The article describes the process for establishing a collaborative research agenda to address gaps in understanding of the diagnosis, treatment management of facial palsy. A Delphi technique was used in order to establish a facial palsy research agenda. In round...
Single surgery for repair of tegmen defects and superior semicircular canal dehiscence
This retrospective review of 34 patients undergoing repair of the temporal bone defect via the middle cranial fossa approach provides the author’s management strategy for two problems: superior semicircular canal dehiscence and tegmen defects. The incidence of both these pathologies...
Paediatric versus adult pituitary adenomas
This retrospective study compares paediatric with adult patients undergoing pituitary adenoma surgery over a period of 26 years at a single institution. All surgeries were performed via a sublabial approach using the operating microscope. An endoscope was used occasionally for...
Peripheral nerve stimulation for chronic refractory pain
Peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) plays an important role in treating chronic refractory pain syndromes that manifest in limited distributions and overlap with areas of neurologic innervation. The process is generally thought to capitalise on the inhibition and activation of pain-related...
