You searched for "smell"
Prevention better than cure?
This systematic review looks at methods of ‘barrier protection’ or ‘barrier-enforcing’ to minimise allergic rhinitis symptoms, using 15 RCTs. Whilst the authors admit that patient numbers were small in a number of these studies, generally it seems that barrier techniques...
Balloon Eustachian tuboplasty
Eustachian tube dysfunction is a common condition, which is unfortunately lacking an effective treatment. This small study demonstrated the effectiveness of balloon Eustachian tuboplasty in a district hospital setting. It has been in use since 2010 and is beginning to...
COVID-19 and oral cancer
This is a Canadian retrospective paper covering the period of March 2018 to March 2022. It identified 190 patients; 91 pre-pandemic and 99 from the pandemic. From this, they found there was no increase in patient delay, professional delay or...
The effect of cocaine or adrenaline dressing during endoscopic sinus surgery
A randomised controlled study of 37 patients took place that underwent endoscopic sinus surgery for chronic rhinosinusitis and received adrenaline or cocaine-soaked patties. The study showed no difference in the mean surgical field scores between adrenaline and cocaine sides. Adequate...
Increasing tongue strength to reduce dysphagia: what is the potential benefit of a device driven exercise?
Weakness in tongue muscle strength and laryngeal elevation is known to have an adverse impact on swallowing function. Various swallowing exercises are often recommended to improve function of these important structures with the goal of preventing aspiration and improving swallow...
Association of quality of life with type of surgical treatment in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer
Standard treatment for differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) is surgery, which includes either a total thyroidectomy or hemithyroidectomy. Surgery may then be followed by radioactive iodine treatment and, for some, treatment with thyroid hormone to suppress thyrotropin levels. All patients undergoing...
Parapharyngeal space tumours – is the transoral approach effective?
Several approaches are described to the parapharyngeal space to permit resection of tumours in this region, with the most commonly employed approach being the transcervical route. The transoral approach remains somewhat controversial as it is felt that this approach can...
Success of butterfly myringoplasty in myringosclerosis
Butterfly inlay myringoplasty is a simple surgical technique used in the repair of tympanic membrane perforation. The authors evaluated the effects of myringosclerosis on the success of surgery by reviewing demographic data, perforation size and hearing outcomes of patients undergoing...
Reactive lesions of the contralateral vocal cord – excise or leave?
It is well recognised that benign lesions of one vocal cord can give rise to reactive lesions of the contralateral vocal cord directly opposite to the primary lesion. These contralateral reactive lesions (CRLs) are thought to arise due to impact...
Can we tell the difference between benign recurrent vertigo, migraine and Menière’s disease?
I chose to review this article as it reminds us of the difficulties in diagnosing dizzy patients accurately and the significant crossover of symptoms between the diagnoses. Does Benign Recurrent Vertigo (BRV) even exist as a separate entity? BRV is...
Choosing instrumental assessments of swallowing for children
Swallowing disorders in children are increasingly common due to advances in medical care allowing them to survive prematurity or complex health conditions. Careful assessment of eating and drinking is necessary to ensure that children are managed both safely and with...
