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ENT and the Titanic

One otolaryngologist who perished on the ill-fated voyage of the RMS Titanic on 15 April 1912 was Dr Ernest Moraweck, a prominent physician with an interest in ENT (and ophthalmology), living in Frankfort, Kentucky, USA [1]. Moraweck was an inventive...

Themistocles Gluck – the true father of laryngectomy

Most head and neck surgeons and ENT-specialists may know that the first laryngectomy for cancer was performed by Billroth on 31 December 1873. Billroth´s assistant, Vincenz Czerny, had outlined the operation in experimental surgery on dogs in 1870. Three years...

Vicarious (nasal) menstruation

Hippocrates himself is known to have said that when a woman’s menses are due, but instead of the usual vaginal menstrual flow, she has a haemorrhage from the nose, then this is a sure sign of pregnancy [1]. Artist’s impression...

Demystifying laryngology in the era of examination and collaboration

In the field of laryngology, perhaps more than in any other area of ENT, there has been a philosophical shift (as well as a technological one) in the approach of clinicians caring for patients. Albert Merati explains. Progress in laryngology...

Establishing a medical device company: an ENTrepreneur’s experience

In 2004, while I was suturing the mucopericondrial flaps for a septoplasty, I thought to myself, “there must be an easier and faster way of doing this”. Even though I had no formal training in business or medical device development,...

GP Field and the holes in his book: a British bestseller in otology

The fact that the cradle of modern otology lies in Britain and Ireland was long unrecognised in continental Europe. Yet it was the Teutonic forefathers of the ‘Vienna School’ who drew their knowledge from such British luminaries as Toynbee and...

Hearing loss in the workplace

It is probably accurate to say that most jobs today can be effectively performed by people who have hearing loss. In this article Dr Sam Trychin outlines some of the major issues which should be considered in regard to hearing...

The mounting burden of hearing loss worldwide: gearing up global collaboration

As audiology and ENT professionals we all have an inkling about the prevalence and impact of hearing loss, but the true gravity of the situation is even greater than previously thought… It may seem hard to believe, but in the...

An update on laryngeal reinnervation

Laryngeal paralysis remains very difficult to treat, but reinnervation offers many attractions. Laryngeal paralysis presents a unique and varied problem that requires a patient centred approach and a range of treatment options depending on laryngeal and patient factors. There is...

Robotic head and neck surgery: current state of the art and future innovations

Technology and innovation has provided modern head and neck surgeons with successive generations of robotic surgical systems, fibre-optic lasers, and novel tools which have ushered in a new era of minimally invasive surgery for tumours of the pharynx and larynx....

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,...