You searched for "assistive"

1087 results found

Inflammation associated with presbyacusis

Inflammaging and presbyacusis is a topic that few audiologists consider in their daily clinical routine due to lack of training in this area. Inflammaging is a chronic state of inflammation present throughout the body. The classic 1965 work by Rosen...

Is a chest x-ray necessary in making urgent referrals for suspected head and neck cancer?

The article presents an audit on urgent referrals for suspected head and neck cancer in 2144 patients. Only 8.6% of cases proved positive for head and neck cancer. The Scottish Referral Guidelines were adhered only in 55.1% of cases. Interestingly,...

Sham controlled trial: BPPV

I was drawn to this study and it proved an enlightening read; it also is a good example of where recommendations of a Cochrane review for long-term evidence of benefit have been acted upon! The study looked at the efficiency...

The sentinel lymph nodes revisited

The concept of sentinel lymph node sampling has been around for some time. However, its acceptability in routine head and neck practice has yet to be established. This article presents the authors’ experience in 10 patients with Merkel cell carcinoma...

Tinnitus in patients on therapy with PPI and in PPI non–users

Tinnitus is a chronic and debilitating condition and approximately 10% of the population is afflicted. A myriad of pharmacological treatments for tinnitus are available but only a few controlled studies have shown positive results. The relationship between proton pump inhibitors...

Lingual tonsils and obstrucive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS)

Obstructive sleep apnoea can be due to narrowing of the retrolingual space by hypertrophic lingual tonsils. The authors studied 11 patients (five males and six females with a mean age of 44.3 years and a mean BMI of 28.6). All...

Significance of abnormal retropharyngeal nodes in head and neck cancer

Abnormal retropharyngeal lymph nodes (RLN) have prognostic relevance for patients with oral, oropharyngeal or nasopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). However, consensus on the evaluation and management of abnormal RLN in these patients is lacking. The authors of this paper provided...

Surviving oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma – does subsite matter?

Human papilloma virus (HPV) status is a known prognostic factor in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC). The eighth edition of American Joint Cancer Committee (AJCC) has modified the TNM staging to reflect this. However, subsite as an independent prognostic factor...

Salivary pepsin – a simple test for LPR?

A diagnosis of laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) can be made on the basis of characteristic symptoms and nasendoscopy findings. Objective tests exist for this condition; for example, 24-hour dual-channel pH-metry which is considered to be the gold standard. Such tests are,...

Cochlear implant use in young children

There are clear and well-established links between those identified and fitted with amplification early and good spoken language outcomes, but how much does the time an appropriately fitted hearing instrument is used each day contribute to this? During the first...

An objective office-based method for diagnosing allergic rhinitis

There are several signs of allergic rhinitis which, helped with skin prick and blood tests, can diagnose the problem. However, an endoscopic, on-the-spot test may surmount clinical uncertainties and invasive testing to acquire the same goal. In this study, the...

Noise tolerance in the presence of speech

Noise is a common issue reported by people in reference to speech understanding, both for normal and hearing-impaired people. This study investigated how noise loudness, annoyance, distraction and speech interference impact noise tolerance in normal hearing people while listening to...