Search

What can we tell about swallow physiology from a bedside clinical assessment?

Knowledge about swallowing physiology has greatly increased with the use of instrumental assessments such as videofluoroscopy (VFS). The authors of this paper performed an analysis of data obtained from 60 stroke patients who were assessed via a clinical swallow examination...

Prophylactic swallowing exercises in head and neck cancer

Clinicians working in head and neck cancer will be familiar with the increased interest in prophylactic swallowing exercises to reduce the devastating impact of dysphagia experienced by patients undergoing radiation or chemo-radiation therapy. This study from Denmark is one of...

Management of peritonsillar abscesses – should we be offering a hot tonsillectomy?

Peritonsillar abscesses (PTAs) are one of the most common reasons for patients being referred to ENT services on an emergent basis worldwide. The conventional treatment for adult patients with a PTA in the UK involves needle aspiration or incision and...

How are swallowing and voice affected following anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF)?

Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) requires an anterior transcervical approach (ACA) to allow decompression of the cervical spine and nerve roots. This approach is also occasionally used for corpectomy and osteophyte removal. Key neurovascular structures related to swallowing and...

Paediatric lymphadenopathy – helpful decision making

The authors present a very helpful algorithm to manage cervical lymphadenopathy in children. The goal of managing children with inflamed lymph glands is to identify the rare malignant case and not over-investigate the vast majority of benign reactive swellings –...