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No soup for you…! Early identification of postoperative perforation increases the success of conservative management

Iatrogenic perforation of the hypopharynx or cervical oesophagus is a well-recognised life-threatening complication. Previous studies have demonstrated that conservative management with broad-spectrum antibiotics and withholding oral feeding may avoid morbidity associated with surgical repair. This study addresses when conservative management...

Narrow band imaging improves diagnosis of malignant laryngeal lesions

The manufacturers of narrow band imaging (NBI) claim better visualisation of mucosal abnormalities when compared with simple white light. The primary aim of the study was to compare the diagnostic accuracy of NBI and white light to diagnose malignant laryngeal...

Is there a limitation for excising parapharyngeal tumours transorally?

The parapharyngeal space is a complex anatomical space bounded medially by the oropharynx and laterally by the mandible. It is conceptualised as an inverted pyramid extending from base of skull above to the hyoid bone below. The space is divided...

Transoral laser microsurgery (TLM)

This review article describes the surgical technique of transoral laser microsurgery (TLM) for the piecemeal removal of tumours of the upper aerodigestive tract using carbon dioxide laser. This technique gained acceptance after Wolfgang Steiner published his paper on the treatment...

Endoscopic approach to the internal auditory canal (IAC)

The otoendoscope, with its wide-angle visualisation, has made it an increasingly popular tool to perform outer, middle and even inner ear surgery. Approaches to the IAC with the endoscope have been described by several authors. In this paper, Valente et...

Should we leave a reconstructed auricle exposed?

Microtia results in psychological and functional morbidity and total auricle reconstruction offers the affected individual a more cosmetically pleasing ear. The art of dressing postoperatively can be heterogenous between surgeons. This single-centre retrospective study based in China compared complication rate...

Update on cholesteatoma

Surgery for cholesteatoma should be tailored to individual patients, considering patient and disease factors, to obtain a dry, safe and functional ear. In this article, the authors discuss the current definitions and classification system of middle ear cholesteatoma, as well...

Associated findings in MRI used for detecting acoustic neuroma

Presently, gadolinium enhanced magnetic resonance imaging is the ‘gold standard’ for investigating acoustic neuroma. There are often ‘incidental’ findings that may or may not be significant. In this study of 109 scans, the authors noted an uptake of 0.9% for...