Search

Surgical technology and operating room safety failures: lessons from vascular and general surgery

Background – surgical technology and otolaryngology An estimated 234 million major surgical procedures are performed annually worldwide. This requires the interaction of multidisciplinary teams with varying contributions of surgical technology and therefore makes surgical procedures prone to multiple sources of...

Simulation: human factors scenario training

It is said that surgical training has suffered as a result of a combination of factors – through the introduction of work time restrictions such as the European Working Time Directive (EWTD) [1], a limit on the number of years...

Thyroid nodules – time for a rational imaging approach

“The more you know, the harder it is to take decisive action. Once you become informed, you start seeing complexities and shades of gray. You realize that nothing is as clear as it first appears. Ultimately, knowledge is paralyzing.” Calvin,...

Timing of surgery in chronic rhinosinusitis: does it matter?

While many patients with chronic rhinosinusitis respond to medical treatment, some do not. The next step for these patients is surgery, but how soon should this be offered? Sooner rather than later seems to be the answer, as Claire Hopkins...

Manuel Patricio Rodriguez Garcia (1805-1906): The ‘inventor of the laryngoscope’ and world-renowned singing teacher

Paris was the birthplace of the laryngoscope, invented by Manuel Garcia. As we are in Paris for IFOS 2017, Neil Weir tells us about this fascinating man, who travelled the world and was a renowned singer and laryngologist. Manuel Patricio...

Are ENT patients who research their symptoms online better informed?

All our patients look up their symptoms online before they visit us, don’t they? And patients who do so are better informed than those who don’t, right? Well, that’s not actually the case… The ‘information era’ More information is now...

Laryngotracheal stenosis

Airway stenosis has been an enormous challenge to laryngologists since the dawn of the sub-specialty. Careful evaluation is essential, as this will determine the best treatment. We hear more from one of the UK’s leading airway centres. Until the advent...

By the people, for the people: a multidisciplinary facial nerve clinic with a difference

Facial nerve palsy is regularly seen in ENT clinics. Underlying diagnoses are excluded, and the patient is often then discharged to ‘see how it goes’, with or without an ophthalmology referral. Here, Catherine Meller describes how she and her team...

Andrew Foster and deaf education

This article examines the career of deaf African American, Andrew Foster, and his contribution to deaf education in Sub-Saharan Africa. The history of medicine has often been guilty of attributing great revolutions to a single person (usually a white man)...