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Swallow toxicity score (DIGEST) and its clinical utility in oncology practice

The Dynamic Imaging Grade of Swallowing Toxicity (DIGEST, graded from 0–4) was developed as a tool for clinicians to grade dysphagia from modified barium swallow studies (MBSS). The purpose is to provide a common terminology for adverse events of pharyngeal...

Logan Turner’s Diseases of the Nose, Throat and Ear – Head and Neck Surgery, 12th Edition

Nine years since the previous edition, the 12th edition of Logan Turner sees Quentin Gardiner join Musheer Hussain as a Dundonian editorial double-act. The book has an inextricably East Coast of Scotland history; Arthur Logan Turner was the first ENT...

A raised neutrophil / lymphocyte ratio predicts vestibular schwannoma growth

It has long been known that the neutrophil to lymphocyte count ratio (NLR) is a marker of inflammation and that a higher ratio relates to poorer outcomes in some malignant tumours including some head and neck cancers. Neutrophilia (and therefore...

Preoperative risk factors: when do you need to refer to the haematologist?

It is essential that clinicians are able to identify and assess which patients are in the high risk category for bleeding during ENT surgery. A full history, including medications, herbal remedies taken, any other medical co-morbidities and family history of...

Recurrent seroma in cochlear implanted patients

Little is known about why some patients experience recurrent seromas over the implant package and in the absence of any cause, antibiotics are frequently prescribed as a precaution to protect the implant from infection. A tertiary referral centre selected five...

Updates on current evidence for biologics in chronic rhinosinusitis

For a comparatively short piece, this article manages to pack in a lot of important information about a complex emerging area of rhinology – immunologically targeted therapy (biologics). Immunologically targeted therapy is a rapidly progressing and expanding domain which is...

Eosinophilic complications during dupilumab therapy

Dupilumab is a humanised monoclonal antibody that targets type 2 inflammation by blocking IL-4 and IL-13 signalling. Reported adverse events from its use include injection site erythema, conjunctivitis, arthralgia and hypereosinophilia. The potential for more severe eosinophilic-related complications such as...

Drug-Induced Sleep Endoscopy

Throughout our ENT careers, we will always be referred patients with sleep-disordered breathing - both adults and children. Sleep studies are key for this condition. I remember as a trainee in the early aspect of my career seeing the sleep...

Rates of tonsillitis increase as rates of tonsillectomy reduce

This retrospective study sought to determine the effect of reduced rates of tonsillectomy in England and Wales, over a 13-year period, on rate of hospital admissions for the complications of acute tonsil infection (acute tonsillitis and quinsy), and hospital bed-day...

How does the Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) correlate with demographics and symptoms of patients?

The DHI is widely used to assess the self-perceived emotional, functional and physical disability in subjects with dizziness and balance problems. By studying the data of 568 patients retrospectively, the authors sought to determine the gender and age differences in...