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Is medical therapy without surgical treatment sufficient in treating peritonsillar abscess?

Standard treatment of peritonsillar abscess (PTA) has typically involved both medical therapy and surgical drainage either in the form of needle aspiration, or incision and drainage. However, is medical without surgical treatment sufficient? The authors suggest that medical therapy without...

Factors affecting hearing aid recommendations

There is a wide variety of hearing instruments available to the hearing impaired. Hearing care professionals are often confronted with making decisions on which to recommend based on audiometric and non-audiometric parameters (e.g. vision, manual dexterity and vanity). The factors...

Combination PPI and intralesional steroid treatment for recurrent laryngeal granuloma

The existence of a wide range of treatments for recurrent laryngeal granulomas (repeat surgery, high-dose proton pump inhibitor (PPIs), surgery with botulinum toxin injection, botulinum toxin injection alone, etc) is a testament to the refractory nature of this condition, with...

Non-autologous graft material in paediatric tympanoplasty – is it as good as temporalis fascia and is it cost-effective?

This retrospective case review looks at the experience of a single unit using a variety of autologous (temporalis fascia, n=292) and non-autologous graft material, n=241 (alloderm (human dermis), biodesign (porcine submucosa, $170-$255) and tutoplast (human pericardium, $350). The average patient...

Is a hemithyroidectomy as effective as a total thyroidectomy for compressive symptoms?

The claim made in the title of this paper, that hemithyroidectomy is equally as successful as total thyroidectomy in alleviating compressive symptoms from goitres, is certainly intriguing. And with the inclusion of 45,539 subjects, it would at first glance seem...

What is the quality of patient-reported outcomes of salivary function?

Salivary gland dysfunction has multiple causes and can have significant impact on quality of life, particularly when symptoms are severe. There are several patient-reported outcomes (PROMS) that assess these issues; however, these are variable in what they measure. This systematic...

Sleep apnoea got your heart in your throat? Perhaps it’s time to ditch the CPAP and fetch the scalpel

The link between obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) is clear. Its well-established association with essential hypertension is thought to link OSA to an increased risk of atherosclerotic and hypertensive sequelae. However, data on the long-term impact of...