Introduction Since its advent in 1964 when Dotter percutaneously dilated a stenosed femoral artery [1], interventional radiology has undergone tremendous advancement in both imaging and devices that have enabled the operator (interventional radiologist) to access very distal small vasculature and...
Technology and innovation has provided modern head and neck surgeons with successive generations of robotic surgical systems, fibre-optic lasers, and novel tools which have ushered in a new era of minimally invasive surgery for tumours of the pharynx and larynx....
Benign strictures of the upper oesophagus and pharynx, while not very common, can be a challenging condition to successfully manage. The authors of this article provide us with a detailed description of their technique for using the CO2 laser, balloon...
This article takes us through the diagnosis and management of swallowing problems common in older age. As our global population continues to grow and live longer, dysphagia will continue to be a global problem which needs to be recognised, understood...
Historically, scarless surgery has been popular in certain cultures. But is it gaining traction around the world? A UK team tell us more. Background Alternative, remote access approaches to thyroidectomy and parathyroidectomy are increasing in popularity, the newest of these...
Professor Ashok Shaha describes the evolution in the treatment of thyroid cancer that he has witnessed over the last decade and the invaluable progress made by himself and others, from their contributions to staging systems and guidelines. Nuances and paradigm...
Although experience in the use of airway stents in adults is considerable, their use in children is more recent and more limited. Cláudia Schweiger and Michael J Rutter provide an overview of stents and their use in paediatric airway. Stenting...
In recent years, the role of HPV in the development of oropharyngeal cancers has become apparent. Hannah Fox and Vin Paleri contend that while we may not always be able to cure oropharyngeal cancers, vaccination offers our best hope for...
Introduction Over the past 150 years, military personnel wounded in action had a survival rate of approximately 80% [1]. During the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, those servicemen wounded in action have a 90.4% survival rate [2]. During the...
Leanne Hamilton and Louise Clark describe their technique for helping to localise parathyoid adenomas. Surgically this can be difficult, so careful preoperative evaluation using imaging as described can help minimise difficulties intraoperatively when identifying the parathyroid adenoma. Preoperative imaging has...
Nasal septal surgery is a very common procedure that we tend to learn as junior trainees. Most of us still find that we have a lot to learn with every deviated septum that we encounter. There is a range of...
This story is dedicated to my dear friend and much-missed colleague, Heinz Stammberger, with whom some of these moments were shared (or endured). Having used a rigid endoscope in my postgrad thesis in the early 1980s to show that the...