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Assessment and management of dysphagia in the elderly

This article covers dysphagia in older patients, which is an important topic due to an ageing population, and a relatively common symptom that we see in clinic. Dysphagia could be due to presbyphagia secondary to changes in head and neck...

Button batteries – how can we reduce harm to children?

This article explores the history of button batteries and how clinicians and industries alike could reduce the harm to children following ingestion. Following ingestion, if lodged, button batteries cause an alkaline reaction leading to necrosis of mucosa. Significant oesophageal injury...

Association of quality of life with type of surgical treatment in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer

Standard treatment for differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) is surgery, which includes either a total thyroidectomy or hemithyroidectomy. Surgery may then be followed by radioactive iodine treatment and, for some, treatment with thyroid hormone to suppress thyrotropin levels. All patients undergoing...

Recurrent facial palsy

Recurrent facial palsy is relatively rare, and its clinical features are not well known. The authors set out to investigate this further by undertaking a retrospective study of patients with recurrent facial palsy over a 14-year period. Only Bell’s palsy...

THRIVE: redefining airway management in endoscopic oesophageal surgery

Transnasal humidified rapid insufflation ventilatory exchange (THRIVE) is no longer just a tool to help anaesthetists secure a difficult airway. Thanks to the work of authors like Yang and colleagues, it is being revolutionised to provide apnoeic oxygenation during endoscopic...

Bell’s palsy incidence in Korean population

Bell’s palsy is an acute idiopathic paresis or paralysis of the peripheral facial nerve. It is the most common cause of facial nerve palsy with a reported incidence ranging from 11.5–55.3 per 100,000. The aetiology remains unclear. Several studies have...

What are the consequences of facial palsy on working life?

Facial palsy (FP) has multiple causes, including iatrogenic or idiopathic paralysis, trauma and tumours. Whilst for certain aetiologies, such as Bell’s palsy, recovery of function is expected, many patients will experience permanent symptoms due to incomplete recovery of the facial...

The video head impulse test: an aid to the diagnosis of spinocerebellar ataxias

Spinocerebellar and Friedreich ataxias (SCA and FA) by their nature present in neuro-otology clinics. The diagnosis is ultimately genetic but the authors investigated the characteristics of the VOR using the video head impulse test (vHIT) in order to distinguish between...

Is virtual reality the future of vestibular rehabilitation?

The use of virtual reality (VR) in vestibular rehabilitation is gaining some popularity but availability is hampered by cost. One VR system in use in some centres is the Hybrid VR unit which incorporates motion trackers and force platforms. This...

A novel scale for the assessment of tracheoesophageal voice quality – the SToPS

There is currently no assessment tool in widespread use that permits a valid and reliable perceptual assessment of voice quality following laryngectomy. Such a scale is needed to investigate the functional outcomes of surgical voice restoration and rehabilitation regimes. Existing...

Predicting the nature of swallowing deficits caused by surgical resection of the tongue?

Patients treated surgically for cancer of the tongue are expected to have difficulty in eating, drinking and swallowing. The authors of this paper report on a cohort of 106 patients in their practice who had surgical resection as primary treatment....