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Apps in allergic rhinitis

Utilising smart-phone applications to gather data is an expanding field in medicine. However, it is not without limitations including bias. The European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA) introduced the Allergy Diary application as part of...

Healthcare economics and device approvals

We use several FDA-approved devices in our clinical practice but are rarely aware about the stringent procedures followed by manufacturers, as well as the FDA, before the devices become commercially available. The authors of this paper undertook a comprehensive review...

Neck dissection in adenoid cystic carcinoma is a risk worth taking?

This paper from Stanford University presents impressive figures to guide the debate on the extent of surgical management in adenoid cystic disease. Adenoid cystic carcinomas present a particular problem in that they can recur even after 20 years. They have...

Surgery for snoring

The prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing is rapidly increasing. There is variable evidence for surgical treatments for snoring currently. This Belgian study was a retrospective review of 84 patients who underwent surgery for snoring between May 2011 and December 2015. A...

A new hydrogel dural sealant for CSF repair

This paper reports the findings of a multicentre prospective randomised trial conducted to demonstrate the efficacy of the Adherus Dural Sealant for FDA approval. The Adherus Dural Sealant was compared with the control, DuraSeal Dural Sealant. It was applied to...

Surgery or medicine: when should we stop trying to be conservative?

Although most otolaryngologists would agree that surgery improves the outcomes of patients with CRS when medical treatment has failed, both Cochrane reviews state that there is no proof of improved efficacy of surgery over medicine – however, that was after...

Saline irrigation in CRSwNP after surgery

This article, largely from Germany, aims to prove the effectiveness of nasal saline irrigation in postoperative patients with CRS with nasal polyps. A prospective, single blinded randomised trial was designed with an irrigation and non-irrigation arm. Patients who underwent sinonasal...

Performing a labyrinthectomy

This article takes the reader through the two main approaches for a labyrinthectomy for intractable Meniere’s disease. These are the traditional trans-mastoid and the less well known trans-canal. They state that according to the House clinic, the selection criteria for...

Literature review of experience with the BAHA Attract implant

The authors undertook a literature review for reports on patients who underwent BAHA Attract implantation. Of the 497 PubMed articles, 10 studies met their inclusion criteria. All the studies published were observational studies. There were no randomised control trials. The...

Voice impairment following spinal cord injury

Patients with cervical spinal cord injury face several clinical problems. One of the problems is voice impairment secondary to poor respiratory support. Their syllables per breath, vocal intensity and vocal quality are impaired. This paper studied the impact of the...

An easy way to take intraoperative videos and pictures using a smart phone

Intraoperative visual documentation is a useful addition for personal archiving and for research purposes. Many commercially available systems are available for video and or photo documentations but these often require costly equipment. Smart phones would make ideal recording devices. However,...