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A comparison between ultrasonography-guided drainage with open surgical drainage of deep neck space abscesses
A comparison between ultrasonography-guided drainage with open surgical drainage of deep neck space abscesses Neck space abscesses are common; conventional drainage involves intra-oral or extra-oral approaches. The former can compromise the airway and the latter can cause neurovascular injuries, scarring...
Factors determining success of adenotonsillectomy in paediatric obstructive sleep apnoea
Patient selection is important for any successful surgical procedure. Adenotonsillectomy for obstructive sleep apnoea secondary to adenotonsillar hypertrophy is no exception. This retrospective Taiwanese study attempts to find preoperative factors that have a positive influence for this commonly performed operation....
FESS for recurrent acute rhinosinusitis: at last, some data
As noted in both the EPOS 2012 and in the (more recent) ICARS 2016, there is a paucity of evidence on the effectiveness of surgery for recurrent acute rhinosinusitis (RARS). The authors used a control group of patients with CRSsNP,...
Positive practical communication skills for medics
Communication training for medical students generally focuses on communicating with unimpaired individuals. This article describes how a speech and language therapy department at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden trialled a new approach to teaching medical students. Fifty-nine undergraduate medical...
Papillary thyroid cervical metastases usually remain stable for years
Most patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) have excellent disease-specific survival (DSS). Even with lymph node metastatic recurrence, the 10-year survival is 85%, and 15-year survival 73%. There is a growing trend of minimising morbidity in differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC)...
McIsaac scores in tonsillitis
Acute tonsillitis is usually caused by a viral infection, however often antibiotics are prescribed without a confirmed diagnosis of a bacterial infection. The Modified Centor (McIsaac) criteria, which include fever (>38°c), tonsillar exudate, no cough, anterior cervical lymphadenitis and age,...
Risk factors for loco regional recurrence for oral SCC
Over 250,000 cases of oral squamous cell carcinomas are diagnosed annually worldwide with 128,000 registered deaths. The authors of this study are from a single institution in Germany and have conducted a retrospective audit of 517 patients with oral SCC...
Role of ultrasonography-guided fine-needle aspiration in management of the neck after chemoradiotherapy
Primary chemoradiotherapy (CRT) is a well-established treatment for locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). However, not every patient has a complete response to this treatment modality, necessitating eventual salvage neck dissection. Some patients with persistent adenopathy following...
What should be considered a ‘close’ margin in oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma?
Achieving clear margins during surgical resection in oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OCSCC) is thought to reduce local recurrence (LR) and improve prognosis; however, what constitutes a clear, close, or involved margin is inconsistent in the literature and in practice....
The earlier the better: learning to work together
Working as part of a team can be the most challenging aspect of any health professional’s job role. The authors of this article acknowledge that this is frequently considered a skill that can only be learnt ‘on the job’. Yet...
Best timing for post-treatment PET-CT scans in head and neck cancer
Unfortunately we know that the recurrence rate for head and neck cancer can be high, up to 30-50% in some series. These recurrences tend to occur within the first two years following treatment. Optimal surveillance strategies to detect recurrences early...
