Dr Greta Niemann, ENT surgeon, Pretoria The 60th Annual ENT Conference held in Pretoria in November was a remarkable event, skilfully organised and offering an exceptional line-up of international and local speakers. This year’s gathering provided a unique opportunity for...
ESPO, and paediatric ORL in general, has a long tradition of encouraging our younger colleagues. This has led to innovative developments in clinical work, in research endeavours and in how paediatric ORL educational events are run. This article outlines some...
Benign strictures of the upper oesophagus and pharynx, while not very common, can be a challenging condition to successfully manage. The authors of this article provide us with a detailed description of their technique for using the CO2 laser, balloon...
Dining with family members, amongst the clinking of dishes and glasses, the sounds of conversations and laughter, the husband, a user of hearing aids, misses his wife’s request to bring another bottle of wine. After a third try, the wife,...
Spasmodic dysphonia (SD) is a focal dystonia of the laryngeal musculature. Previously considered to be a rare disorder, it has more recently been suggested that SD is in fact not rare but is frequently misdiagnosed or undiagnosed. This paper would...
This retrospective study reports the outcomes of hearing preservation up to three years after Gamma knife radiosurgery for Gardner-Robertson Class I (SDS>70% and PTA <30dB) patients with vestibular schwannomas. The authors report that patients with no subjective or objective hearing...
The use of intranasal corticosteroids has revolutionised the management of allergic rhinitis and rhinosinusitis and there is now significant evidence of their safety. The problem with side-effects is that clinical studies are designed to demonstrate efficacy, but are underpowered to...
This is a meta-analysis looking at the postoperative pharyngocutaneous fistula rates following total laryngectomy. The authors ended up with 34 studies with about 2500 patients. The most striking finding was that preoperative radiotherapy was a significant risk factor as well...
“This is not, I repeat, not, a marketing textbook.” A strange, if somewhat bemusing opening to a book with the word ‘Marketing’ firmly placed in its title. The author then goes on to explain why it is not a marketing...
There are at least 15 countries now running genome sequencing projects. The team in Manchester, UK, and Boston, USA, share their SEQaBOO project. Abstract SEQaBOO (SEQuencing a Baby for an Optimal Outcome) will transform newborn hearing screening (NBHS) by bringing...
“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge” says Peter Rea in his foreword to this book. He is quoting Albert Einstein, of course, and also introducing this book with a delightfully...
Consisting of seven chapters, 300 pages, numerous graphs and images, alongside a host of ‘tips and tricks, ‘clinical concepts, and ‘points to ponder’, you will be hard-pressed to find a more detailed, thorough discussion of all things related to probe...