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Patient-reported outcome measures in septorhinoplasty

Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are used increasingly in surgical research to quantify the efficacy of surgical interventions. This can help to fill an ‘evidence gap’ where healthcare rationing threatens particular treatments. Procedures aimed at improving quality of life, especially with...

Acute ENT activity in a teaching hospital

This Belgian prospective audit attempted to provide justification for the provision of a 24-hour emergency service at a large 1038-bed teaching hospital (with 31 ENT consultants). The authors looked at a one-month period during which 190 patients were admitted. They...

Videofluoroscopic swallowing studies: balancing risks and benefits

Videofluoroscopic swallow studies (VFSS) are an important part of the diagnostic toolkit and arguably the current gold-standard for assessing swallow biomechanics and diagnosing dysphagia. However, the procedure does involve exposure to radiation, and any clinician requesting this should be able...

Chin up, doc! A few simple manoeuvres could make all the difference in FNE

Flexible nasendoscopy (FNE) is an ENT surgeon’s bread and butter. It is integral and often considered superior to conventional radiography in the assessment of laryngeal and pharyngeal cancers. However, it is not as simple as sticking the camera in and...

Blood type and epistaxis

In this Turkish study, the authors attempted to determine if there was an association between ABO blood type and epistaxis. They looked at 359 epistaxis admissions at the same hospital over a three-year period. Only patients with idiopathic epistaxis were...

Radiofrequency for tonsillectomy

This Turkish study compared the use of radiofrequency (RF) tonsillectomy to the more traditional cold steel dissection (CD) technique. The authors enrolled 114 patients undergoing tonsillectomy for chronic tonsillitis and tonsil hypertrophy (causing upper airway obstruction) over a 4-month period....

Linking tooth extraction and snoring

One of the more contemporaneous theories about OSA is that extraction of teeth or other orthodontic treatment during the development of the facial skeleton leads to alteration of bony growth and therefore alteration of the final result. There is evidence...

Patient positioning for transnasal flexible laryngoscopy

The position of a patient’s head during flexible nasendoscopy to visualise the larynx does not usually require much consideration – adequate views are almost always obtained with a patient sitting in a neutral position. Occasionally however, there will be patients...

Diet quality, noise, and hearing

This is an important article for all audiologists to better understand the relationship between dietary habits and hearing loss. It reports poor dietary habits plus noise exposure may lead to increased high frequency hearing loss. The literature review lays the...

Classification of maxillofacial pain

The patient that presents with oral and facial pain can prove a diagnostic conundrum. Whilst most often dental causes can explain the origin and help from our maxillofacial colleagues is warranted, it is useful to have a system for approaching...