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The father of the history of otology

This year marks the centenary of the death of Adam Politzer (1835-1920). He has been described as the Father of Otology [1] and was certainly the most influential person in otology in the latter half of the 19th century [2]....

From Hippocrates to COVID-19: sniffing out the disease

The ancient Greek physician, Hippocrates, used the ‘art of smell’ to diagnose diseases around 400BC. He also formulated miasmatic theory, which posited that disease is caused by bad smells. Bad air was strongly believed by many physicians to be the...

Vicarious (nasal) menstruation

Hippocrates himself is known to have said that when a woman’s menses are due, but instead of the usual vaginal menstrual flow, she has a haemorrhage from the nose, then this is a sure sign of pregnancy [1]. Artist’s impression...

Guillotines from Joseph‑Ignace Guillotin to Greenfield Sluder

Joseph‑Ignace Guillotin. The politician and physician Joseph-Ignace Guillotin (1738-1814) was so disgusted by brutal head and shoulder injuries sustained in ‘failed attempts’ by drunken axe-wielding executioners during the French Revolution that he and surgeon Antoine Louis (1723-1792) advocated not only...

A legendary ‘parotid adenoma’: teaching aid or trophy? & The stapes: a classical heresy

A legendary ‘parotid adenoma’: teaching aid or trophy? A wander through the glass cases of the newly refurbished Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons in London presents a particularly impressive sight to any ENT surgeon. The salivary adenoma...

Developing an Innovation for ENT – from Idea to Market: how ‘e-i’ did it

Background endoscope-i (e-i) Ltd was incorporated into Companies House on December 3rd, 2012 following eight months of developing our first project, a simple iPhone adapter for endoscopes. Of the three founding shareholders, two are ENT surgeons and one a lecturer...

Imaging and management of head and neck vascular anomalies

Vascular anomalies are a diffuse spectrum of abnormalities which often involve the head, neck and oral cavity. They are frequently misnamed, often being generically labelled as haemangiomas. This lack of basic understanding can cause confusion leading to a cascade of...

ENT and evidence-based medicine: How do they benefit each other?

How do we assess evidence, and how should ENT surgeons use EBM? Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is the practice of medicine based upon high quality scientific research. There are several formal definitions of EBM, the most widely quoted being that of...

Secrets of the listening brain: what measuring the brain can tell us about hearing aid use and more

In a typical audiology clinic, on any given day, a person is waiting to see an audiologist to get a hearing aid (HA). It might have taken over 10 years to get to this point of considering a hearing aid(s)...

Will it ever happen?

Audiology is a rapidly evolving field, with many exciting developments on the horizon. David Baguley identified some topics of interest, and asked some international experts ‘will it ever happen?’ Gene therapy for deafness After years of development, gene therapy for...