You searched for "tonsillectomy"

236 results found

Occurrence of cancer in asymmetrical tonsillar enlargement in adults

With significant increase in head and neck cancer in the last decade, attributed to HPV, fast-track referrals from primary care have markedly increased, adding further to the burden on the NHS. Whether or not unilateral tonsillar enlargement alone, without red...

The ENT operating theatre viewed down the retrospectoscope

We learn much of our future by looking at our past; Douglas MacMillan provides us with a fascinating glimpse into his years as a junior doctor. The operating theatre was a somewhat alien environment in the late 1960s: theatre sisters...

A novel use for coblation in the nose

Having recently become a coblation convert for multiple applications in ENT (including tonsillectomy, inferior turbinate reduction and radiofrequency ablation of the tongue base), it was interesting to read about another novel use in the nose. This preliminary report evaluates the...

Surgical and non-interventional management of laryngomalacia

In this elaborate review article, the authors have described various aspects of laryngomalacia and its surgical management with supraglottoplasty or otherwise, gleaned from an extensive review of the literature which provided evidence or the lack of it in relation to...

Coblation for lingual haemangiomas

Haemangiomas are benign vascular tumours characterised histologically by a marked proliferation of blood vessels. They can be either congenital or acquired, and can affect the tongue, both within the oral cavity and the oropharynx. A variety of interventions exist for...

Long term morbidity of extended medial maxillectomy for inverted papilloma

This Italian review paper looks at five-year morbidity after extended endoscopic medial maxillectomy in 59 patients in a university teaching hospital setting. All patients underwent an extended approach medial maxillectomy for inverting papilloma, this included removal of the entire medial...

Did you ever meet Draffin on your travels?

Draffin’s rods or bipods are a well-known ENT instrument. Before their invention in 1951, the attendant anaesthetist or nurse was obliged to support the mouthgag during tonsillectomy. Their originator, David Alexander Draffin (born in 1917 in Ballybey, Co Monaghan), was...

Scary Cases in Otolaryngology

When I was first presented with the Halloween-like graphic that is displayed on the cover of this 230-page book, I wondered what scary stories may lie ahead. To my delight, by the time I’d turned over the first few pages,...

Transnasal oesophagoscopy in head and neck cancer: an update

The role of transnasal oesophagoscopy (TNE) in the management of head and neck cancer patients is evolving. Until 1990, oesphagoscopy required specialist endoscopists, general anaesthesia or sedation. This review succinctly summarises updates in the evidence for TNE in: i) Screening...

The lateral neck cystic mass – diagnostic dilemma. Can HPV status help?

Solitary cystic masses in the lateral neck can present a significant diagnostic dilemma as they can be metastases from tumours of the oro or nasopharynx. This retrospective paper detailed all patients presenting to a university hospital in Germany, from September...

Long-term effectiveness of sleep surgery for obstructive sleep apnoea

n this study, 39 patients from Turkey with obstructive sleep apnoea (of varying severity) underwent an expansion sphincter pharyngoplasty. This operation was devised by Prof Kenny Pang in Singapore and involves using the palatopharyngeus muscle and partly relocating it laterally...

Does transoral robotic surgery improve outcomes among patients with head and neck cancer of unknown primary?

A tonsillectomy and tongue base mucosectomy is becoming increasingly accepted as the optimal surgical intervention to aid in identifying the primary source of a p16+ / HPV-related squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of unknown origin, given that this disease almost exclusively...