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Temporal Bone: A Surgeon’s Vision

The foreword to this textbook clearly describes the intentions of the authors to provide a guide to young otologists whilst performing temporal bone dissection and to familiarise them with the temporal bone. To this aim the book wholeheartedly delivers. It...

Middle Ear and Mastoid Surgery

I enjoyed reading Middle Ear and Mastoid Surgery by Sanna et al. The authors are to be commended on the excellence of the illustrations within this text, both in schematic line drawings and operative images. I found both to be...

Otologic Surgery - 5th Edition

Otologic Surgery 5th Edition, edited by Derald Brackmann, Clough Shelton, Moises Arriaga and Richard Gurgel, is a textbook masterpiece. The book is written in tribute to the editors’ mentors: Drs Howard House, William House and James Sheehy, whose pioneering work...

Do intratympanic injections require local anaesthesia?

Intratympanic injections are becoming increasingly acceptable in the management of Meniere’s disease, tinnitus and sudden hearing loss. This is because they avoid the need for hospitalisation and can be performed as low-cost outpatient procedures. It is traditional to freeze the...

Cartilage myringoplasty to treat patulous eustachian tube dysfunction

Patulous eustachian tube (PET) dysfunction, where the eustachian tube is abnormally opened at rest, is a notoriously difficult condition to treat. Symptoms can mimic symptoms of superior semicircular canal dehiscence: autophony, aural fullness, hyperacusis and breathing synchronous tinnitus. Treatment has...

Lateral wall augmentation for patulous eustachian tube

The problem more commonly attributed to the eustachian tube is lack of its patency rather than it being unduly patulous. This lesser recognised condition is due to loss of peritubal fat volume resulting in concavity of the lateral wall and...

Open hearing-aid fittings or closed

There is always a balance between different types of hearing aids and their advantages and disadvantages that influence choice of device and ultimately user preference. Personal choice also plays a role when deciding on behind the ear or in ear...

Delayed facial palsy post vestibular schwannoma resection

This article presents findings of a retrospective evaluation of 489 patients who underwent vestibular schwannoma surgery and developed delayed facial palsy. The authors define delayed facial palsy as deterioration of at least two HB grades between postoperative days five and...

Cochlear implanted children are more likely to have device failure if their balance function is impaired

We know that children with permanent hearing loss are more likely to have an associated balance problem. It is also thought that children with cochlear implants (CI) that fail do so because of an increased risk of falls and head...

Should all patients with BPPV have an MRI?

This paper describes an interesting series of 500 patients over a 10-year period with posterior canal BPPV, who had been investigated with MRI. The female to male ratio was 1.6:1 with a mean age of 56. There was a right...