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Demonstrating unobservable effects of therapy through PROMS: a review

Ultimately, healthcare should meet the needs of the people it is designed for. One way of measuring this is using patient-reported outcome measures (PROMS). These tools capture the patient’s perspective and have been described as demonstrating the unobservable effects of...

Total glossectomy and laryngectomy

This review paper analysed studies published between January 2000 and January 2024, assessing the functional outcomes of total glossectomy combined with laryngectomy. The primary outcomes included speech ability, swallowing function and gastrostomy tube dependence. Secondary outcomes considered were disease recurrence...

Eagle syndrome and vascular complications

Eagle syndrome is characterised by an elongated styloid process, which is anatomically positioned between the external carotid artery laterally and the internal carotid artery and internal jugular vein medially. As a result, vessel impingement can be exacerbated by head movements,...

Talk your brain well: discourse training to fortify your cognitive functioning and protect against dementia

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) can be described as a transitional stage prior to a diagnosis of dementia. Approximately 15% of people with amnestic MCI (where memory is the leading symptom) develop dementia. Nonpharmacological interventions, specifically cognitive training, has shown some...

IIb nodes in a node-negative neck

This is an 11-year retrospective study of 389 patients who underwent 527 supraomohyoid neck dissections in a clinically node-negative (cN0) neck between November 2012 and November 2023. Oropharyngeal, maxillary, gingival and maxillary sinus tumours, along with those with a location...

Hot off the press: new clinically relevant research methodologies for speech and language therapy

Interpretive Description (ID) is a qualitative research framework developed to address the limitations in other qualitative methods that are not epistemologically able to take applied fields, such as clinical professions, into consideration. This framework, often described as a method, has...

Let’s talk brains: review of care pathways for communication management post brain tumour

One in five people with a brain tumour have speech and language difficulties such as aphasia – a language impairment that can result in difficulties using and understanding words and sentences and participating in conversations. This paper describes a scoping...

Drooling: what is it like to be unable to manage your own saliva?

Drooling in Parkinson’s is associated with less frequent and inefficient swallowing, resulting in a build-up of saliva in the mouth that then moves beyond the lips. It often causes discomfort as the skin becomes sore, and results in embarrassment. The...

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...

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...