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Harnessing head and neck cancer genomics for personalised medicine

Luc Morris updates us on the future of cancer diagnosis and treatment, which lies in “personalised oncology”, where specific molecular alterations of each tumour will be identified, and matched with actionable alterations in existing therapies, ushering in the era of...

Timing of surgery in chronic rhinosinusitis: does it matter?

While many patients with chronic rhinosinusitis respond to medical treatment, some do not. The next step for these patients is surgery, but how soon should this be offered? Sooner rather than later seems to be the answer, as Claire Hopkins...

Electronic nicotine delivery systems (e-cigarettes): what you need to know

As an aid to stopping smoking e-cigarettes may have a role, but they are heavily promoted by industry as a leisure pursuit and desirable fashion accessory. Sneh Biyani and Craig Derkay gives a thorough account of what we know about...

By the people, for the people: a multidisciplinary facial nerve clinic with a difference

Facial nerve palsy is regularly seen in ENT clinics. Underlying diagnoses are excluded, and the patient is often then discharged to ‘see how it goes’, with or without an ophthalmology referral. Here, Catherine Meller describes how she and her team...

Using tele-audiology in Zambia’s ear and hearing care desert

Addressing the medical desert with tele-audiology and tele-education. If a ‘medical desert’ is defined as a community that lives more than 60 miles away from the nearest acute care hospital, then try to imagine an appropriate term for a situation...

Sniffing out the evidence – COVID-19 and loss of sense of smell and taste

Louis Pasteur once observed: “In the fields of observation chance favors only the prepared mind.” Professor Hopkins was certainly prepared when a few anecdotes of smell problems started to accumulate early in the pandemic’s course. Post-viral olfactory loss is nothing...

Cochlear implants and therapeutics: a natural partnership?

Global awareness of cochlear implants as a solution for hearing loss is slowly increasing and gaining acceptance. The potential for combining cochlear implants with inner ear therapeutics is immense, with promise in several areas. This article takes us on a...

Endotypes in chronic rhinosinusitis: clinical relevance

Identifying endotypes enables personalised therapies that target specific pathophysiological processes, potentially resulting in better treatment outcomes for patients. The contemporary model of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) pathogenesis revolving around endotype, in combination with an expanding toolbox of diagnostics and therapeutics, enables...

Long-term outcomes of children and young people with cochlear implants

Introduction Profound childhood hearing loss has a huge impact on early communication skills, the acquisition of spoken language, and hence on educational attainments and employment prospects. Over the centuries, educators of the deaf attempted to overcome the challenge by using...

Semi implantable bone conduction devices: challenges and developments

Bone conduction mechanisms and history of bone conduction aids Bone conduction hearing devices work by stimulating hair cells via the bone conduction hearing pathways. These pathways are less well understood than the air conduction pathways, but recent research has shown...