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When should that child’s wet ear be operated on?

The team from Birmingham have provided a meta-analysis to answer the question of when to perform a type 1 tympanoplasty on chronic paediatric perforations (under 18 year olds). Forty-five studies were included which resulted in 2609 cases. Closure rate at...

Prophylactic swallowing exercises in head and neck cancer

Clinicians working in head and neck cancer will be familiar with the increased interest in prophylactic swallowing exercises to reduce the devastating impact of dysphagia experienced by patients undergoing radiation or chemo-radiation therapy. This study from Denmark is one of...

Full Vs tapered dose of oral prednisolone for sudden sensorineural hearing loss

I was drawn in by the title of this article, in the expectation that it might be a randomised controlled trial, but it was not. Sudden sensorineural hearing loss is an uncommon condition, which has a potentially disastrous outcome, so...

Surgical management of permanent facial paralysis

This article explores the management of flaccid facial palsy focusing on weakness less than one to two years’ duration. As a general rule, primary nerve repair produces the best outcome and should be performed where possible. For long-standing paralysis of...

Is virtual reality the future of vestibular rehabilitation?

The use of virtual reality (VR) in vestibular rehabilitation is gaining some popularity but availability is hampered by cost. One VR system in use in some centres is the Hybrid VR unit which incorporates motion trackers and force platforms. This...

Silent sinus syndrome: which approach offers the best outcome?

Silent sinus syndrome (SSS) is a rare condition with patients presenting as spontaneous, painless enophthalmos, hypoglobus, orbital asymmetry, and maxillary sinus collapse on the ipsilateral side. The orbital resorption occurs secondary to negative pressure created in the maxillary sinus by...

To montelukast or not to montelukast

Both histamine and cysteinyl leukotrienes play an important role in both seasonal allergic rhinoconjunctivitis (SARC) and asthma. A combination therapy against both was shown to give benefit both in vitro and in vivo. Authors wanted to test the efficacy of...

Can PRP injections treat atrophic rhinitis?

As we all know, atrophic rhinitis is a thankfully rare but debilitating condition characterised by nasal obstruction, dryness, crusting and foul smell (ozaena). There are currently minimal treatment options available, none of which have proven particularly effective. The authors present...