Search

Radiology and paediatric neck lumps

This is a comprehensive article examining the modalities available for children presenting with suspected congenital neck lumps. Each modality is explained in turn, with pros and cons highlighted, but also in the context of the emergency patient and the elective....

Should we do oesophagoscopy during panendoscopy?

Panendoscopy entails a complete evaluation of the upper aerodigestive tract, and consists of oral inspection, direct laryngoscopy, bronchoscopy, oesophagoscopy, or some combination of these procedures. Despite many advances in imaging over the years, a skilled surgeon’s eyes remain superior in...

Extrapolating lessons from vestibular schwannoma management

This paper presents a delightfully simple and sensible hypothesis for the management of benign schwannomas in the head and neck region. They have taken the approach used for the management of vestibular schwannomas and used the same principles to assess...

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...

Style. Strength. Storz. Sybill Storz

This is an extraordinary book. When it arrived in my postbox, I certainly didn’t like it. When I opened the packet, it was big, heavy and very glitzy. My first thought was ‘coffee table book’, so I took it through...

Reasons for readmission up to 30 days after nasal day surgery

This paper aims to review the reasons behind readmission to hospital after day case elective sinonasal surgery up to a month postoperatively. This French tertiary institution study retrospectively reviewed the charts of 924 patients undergoing nasal day case surgery over...

Transnasal endoscopic choanal atresia surgery

Surgery is currently the only definitive treatment for congenital choanal atresia (CCA). There are various surgical approaches including transnasal, transeptal or transpalatal. The authors propose that the preferred option is transnasal endoscopic choanal atresia surgery (TECAS) and set out to...

Can WhatsApp aid surgical team communication?

This plastic surgery team discuss their experience with using WhatsApp instant messaging over the last three years. WhatsApp is now commonplace amongst surgical teams in hospitals, for both social and business interactions. In the authors’ experience, WhatsApp allows team discussions...

Smoking causes cancer – so what’s new?

You may well ask what is the novel value of a paper looking at smoking habits in patients with confirmed head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), but this paper highlights some pertinent points for clinical practice in the current...

Intracranial complications of otitis media – the difference between kids and adults

Despite a decrease in intracranial complications from otogenic infections since the introduction of antibiotics, there is still morbidity and mortality associated with this. This group from the Netherlands conducted a retrospective review of all the patients treated for intracranial complications...

Expanding the role of FNA in thyroid nodule decision-making

Papillary thyroid cancer, the commonest histological type, has been extensively reported as having BRAF proto-oncogene mutations (most commonly the V600E mutation). There is great interest in BRAF as a molecular marker, particularly as a prognostic factor that may guide the...