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Experience on the front line

21st January 2021 Back to basics Yesterday I went right back to where my medical career began. I grew up in Germany, bilingual. A prerequisite to studying medicine in Germany is that applicants have to spend two months working as...

Rhinoplasty for cleft nose deformity

Modern cleft lip and palate repairs produce excellent functional and aesthetic results at an early age. Tony Holmes, a craniofacial surgeon with over 40 years’ experience, shares his wisdom on the best timing and techniques for addressing the associated complex...

Effects of blast and acoustic trauma: assessment of hearing status on war veterans

Introduction Acoustical conditions of the military are often dangerous and there is a real risk of blast trauma and acoustic trauma [1, 2]. Levels of military noises maybe reach up to 125 dBA [3]. Weapons produce instant shock waves (10μs)...

ENT in the Balkans

Shining a light on ENT in the Balkans, Metin Önerci explains the population and challenges in this part of the world. There is no universal agreement on what constitutes the Balkans. However, the following countries are usually included: Albania, Bosnia...

Centenary birthday of Jean-Marc Sterkers: pioneer of vestibular schwannoma surgery

Professor Jean-Marc Sterkers has been a leading figure in the field of otology and neurotology for several decades. On the verge of his 100th birthday, we celebrate an exceptional career through the memories of his son and colleagues. Prof Olivier...

The ear-brain connection in cochlear implant users: learning to listen again

While the cochlear implant (CI) has been a tremendous success in restoring hearing to deaf individuals, the implantation outcome still varies across CI users [1]. Some demographic factors, such as duration of deafness, and peripheral factors, such as electrode placement,...

Staying safe during endoscopic ear surgery

There is growing interest in using rigid endoscopes rather than traditional operative microscopes to perform transcanal middle ear surgery. Rigid endoscopy provides a high resolution, wide-angle view of the tympanic cavity through minimally invasive surgical portals. In this article, Elliott...

Semi implantable bone conduction devices: challenges and developments

Bone conduction mechanisms and history of bone conduction aids Bone conduction hearing devices work by stimulating hair cells via the bone conduction hearing pathways. These pathways are less well understood than the air conduction pathways, but recent research has shown...

Matthew Clark: full-time otologist, spare-time sculptor

Drilling a temporal bone may seem like torture to some trainee surgeons. To others it is but a stepping stone to something altogether grander... I took Art A-level a year early so as not to interfere with the ‘important subjects’,...