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Laryngeal Physiology for the Surgeon and Clinician – Second Edition

This second edition is a short (110 pages), succinct and concise book. I don’t usually like reading physiology textbooks, but I found this one very interesting. It is written in a manner which is easy to read and digest. It’s...

Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery: Clinical Reference Guide – Sixth Edition

When I began my ENT training, the revered ‘Pasha’ textbook was one of the first recommendations given to me by senior colleagues who were in the throes of FRCS revision. This revamped edition serves to improve a book which was...

Are quinsies worth draining?

Recent data is providing accumulating evidence that treatment failure in the management of peritonsillar abscesses (PTAs, aka ‘quinsies’) is similar when these are managed with medical treatment (MT) alone versus MT plus surgical drainage (M+ST). However, in the absence of...

Otosclerosis - to scan or not to scan?

In an era of insidiously reducing thresholds for investigating patients, Maxwell and colleagues pose an important question: is high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) prior to stapes surgery for otosclerosis worthwhile? Their practice typically considers HRCT for cases of suspected otosclerosis presenting...

Laryngopharyngeal reflux - would mucolytics help?

With laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) being such a common presenting complaint to ENT clinics, who would not want to have more, effective treatment options for patients suffering with this annoying condition? In their small randomised, controlled trial, Chae et al put...

Rhinotillexomania - how bad can nose picking get?

This is a fascinating first case report of rhinotillexomania associated with empty nose syndrome (ENS). Rhinotillexomania encompasses compulsive, pathological nose picking and is a variant of self-harm. Tranchito and Chhabra describe an elderly patient presenting with longstanding symptoms of nasal...

How effective and safe is audiologist-led screening of acoustic neuroma in patients with asymmetrical hearing loss and unilateral tinnitus?

About two out of 100 patients presenting with asymmetric hearing and unilateral tinnitus have acoustic neuroma. The traditional method in which these patients first attend a clinician and then undergo screening through an MRI, can be expensive and prolong the...

Diagnostic performance of non-echo-planar diffusion weighted MRI in detection of suspected cholesteatoma

Even though a ‘second look’ remains a gold standard for detection of residual cholesteatoma after intact canal wall techniques, non-echo-planar diffusion weighted MRI is considered a reasonable alternative to avoid further surgery. However, to establish or exclude a cholesteatoma de...

Role of oral and intranasal steroids in the management of otitis media with effusion

Inflammation is considered an important factor in the pathogenesis and continuation of otitis media with effusion. Theoretically, this may support the use of steroids, oral or intranasal in the management of this condition. This study comprised three well matched groups...

Rationales to explore the neck in penetrating injuries

Penetrating neck injuries in the UK are more commonly associated with low velocity objects such as knives and blades as opposed to gunshots. To explore the neck requires careful consideration of the need to do so in line with Burgess...

Associated findings in MRI used for detecting acoustic neuroma

Presently, gadolinium enhanced magnetic resonance imaging is the ‘gold standard’ for investigating acoustic neuroma. There are often ‘incidental’ findings that may or may not be significant. In this study of 109 scans, the authors noted an uptake of 0.9% for...