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Anterior skull-base surgery: current opinion

This review examines the changes in the field of anterior skull-base surgery and the rapid advancement that has taken place in the last 10–15 years. Tumours of the anterior skull base that were once considered inoperable are now routinely resected...

CT and intraoperative nerve monitoring to identify non-recurrent laryngeal nerve during thyroid surgery

A non-recurrent laryngeal nerve (NRLN) is a rare (incidence 0.3% to 1.3%) anatomical variant that results in a higher rate of vocal cord palsy following thyroid surgery. This team from China examined the utility of preoperative CT and intraoperative nerve...

Vascularised tissue in salvage total laryngectomy

Chemoradiation (CRT) has become the mainstay for locally advanced laryngeal cancer since the RTOG 91-11 trial. Unfortunately there is still a substantial demand for salvage laryngectomies, which have a higher complication rate, the most notable being pharyngocutaneous fistula (PCF). Several...

X-ray vs. intraoperative testing for determining cochlear implant placement

Most cochlear implant centres confirm electrode position after surgery using X-rays to ensure optimal electrode placement. As well as transorbital view X-rays, this team check placement using impedance measures and neural response telemetry (NRT) performed intraoperatively. The former indicates whether...

Is Gamma Knife Surgery effective for intracanalicular vestibular schwannomas?

Vestibular schwannomas (VSs) are rare, occurring in approximately five per 100,000 adults a year. In circa 8% of cases, the VS is contained within the internal auditory canal, i.e. intracanalicular (iVS). Although radiosurgery is a recognised treatment modality for VSs,...

Adenoid cystic carcinoma – insights from a national database

Adenoid cystic carcinoma (AdCC) is a rare cancer of the salivary glands that accounts for approximately 1% of all head and neck malignancies. Hallmarks of this cancer type include a predilection for perineural infiltration, a prolonged clinical course with late...

Adjuvant radiotherapy for T4N0 laryngeal cancers treated with laryngectomy

A total laryngectomy remains the gold standard for the initial treatment of advanced (T4) squamous cell carcinomas of the larynx without evidence of distant disease. Adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) is also recommended for such cancers. In the absence of other adverse...

Landmark Papers in Otolaryngology

“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge” says Peter Rea in his foreword to this book. He is quoting Albert Einstein, of course, and also introducing this book with a delightfully...

Postoperative radiation in early stage oropharyngeal squamous cell cancer (OPSCC)

There is significant variation in treatment strategies for OPSCC between units. This is largely due to unanswered questions which continue to exist beyond the published literature. We know that human papilloma virus status has a significant influence on prognosis but...

Superstructure-preserving stapes surgery in otosclerosis

Stapedectomy is a well-established procedure for otosclerosis but it has a small risk of a non-hearing ear, which can be devastating for patients. The development of a procedure which is safer and with a less steep learning curve for junior...

The continued evolution of surgical techniques for bone anchored hearing devices

This paper is not the first, and is unlikely to be the last, to look at a variation on the current technique for inserting the percutaneous titanium bone-anchored component of a bone conduction hearing device. In less than a decade,...