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Salvage surgery vs. repeat stereotactic radiosurgery for progressing vestibular schwannomas

This large multicentre case series of patients treated twice with stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for progressing vestibular schwannomas (VS) is reported by the International Gamma Knife Radiosurgery consortium. Progression of tumour growth after primary SRS is rare but does occur. Complications...

Swallowing it whole: the physical and psychological consequences of dysphagia

Living with dysphagia in the real world can be extremely challenging, both practically and psychologically. Long-term changes in taste due to chemo-radiation treatment for head and neck cancer, fatigue due to Parkinson’s disease, and physically impaired structures due to stroke...

How best to follow up a sinonasal cancer?

Sinonasal malignancies are rare tumours and, in the UK, are usually treated in tertiary treatment centres but may well be followed up long term in the patient’s local hospital, so advice on how best to manage these patients is invaluable....

Effect of swallowing exercises following free flap for oral cancer reconstruction

This paper from Beijing looked at 68 patients, 34 in a control group and 34 in an intervention group. Oral exercise training was performed by a specialist swallowing nurse in the intervention group. They found that personalised oral exercises had...

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...

Temporal Bone Dissection Guide - Second Edition

In the second edition of this popular dissection guide the authors have raised the bar even higher, expanding on the infratemporal and middle fossa dissection guide. There is also a brief description of the use of endoscopes in middle ear...

Healthcare Disparities in Otolaryngology

The topic of this book seems timely given the increasing focus in recent years on equality and prevention of discrimination. But my initial reaction was, do we need a 300-page textbook on this topic? Is there so much to say?...

Should intratympanic steroids be the first line treatment for sudden sensorineural hearing loss?

This article looked at whether intratympanic steroids (ITS) provide more benefits over systemic steroid therapy (SST) as initial therapy in patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSHL). This meta-analysis study, based on published RCTs, concluded that ITS treatment exhibited...

Improving the temporal contour in reconstruction

A feature of the temporalis flap is the sunken contour left behind. This group from Japan present a variation for filling defects for which we would traditionally use a temporalis muscle containing. The laterally based peri-cranial flap they present uses...

Describing the most useful OSA assessment?

This article sets out to comprehensibly describe drug induced sleep endoscopy and its role in determining the level of obstruction in patients with OSA. The advantages described include the fact that other techniques, including Muller’s manoeuvre, have significant variation in...

Is major ear surgery financially viable?

It is difficult to ignore the present reality in the NHS that understanding clinical coding is perhaps of more relevance to the practising clinician than the human genome! Clinician engagement is becoming more essential to protect patient care and maximise...