You searched for "tests"
A mouth-rinse test that can screen for oral cancer?
This paper presents a promising screening tool for oral cancer – using a simple chlorhexidine mouth-rinse. The hypermethylated ZNF582 and PAX1 markers were chosen based on previous studies using oral scraping methods of collection and have been shown to be...
Darn it! It’s going to take longer to get good at stapes surgery!
Traditionally, it has been said the learning curve for a particular operation lies between 20 and 30 cases. In stapedotomy, a surgeon is deemed successful and perhaps competent if closure of the air-bone gap (ABG) is reached to within 10dB...
Spasmodic dysphonia – is greater awareness needed?
Spasmodic dysphonia (SD) is a focal dystonia of the laryngeal musculature. Previously considered to be a rare disorder, it has more recently been suggested that SD is in fact not rare but is frequently misdiagnosed or undiagnosed. This paper would...
Hearing loss and QOL
This article evaluates the impact of hearing loss and its rehabilitation on the quality of life (QoL) of adults. The authors suggest that the currently used scale, Aphab, is long, complicated and does not take into account minor changes. The...
A histological test for LPR?
Laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) is often considered to be a contributory factor to the development of a spectrum of laryngeal abnormalities including vocal cord leukoplakia and dysplasia. This is especially the case when traditional risk factors, such as tobacco smoking, are...
Prophylactic swallowing exercises in head and neck cancer
Clinicians working in head and neck cancer will be familiar with the increased interest in prophylactic swallowing exercises to reduce the devastating impact of dysphagia experienced by patients undergoing radiation or chemo-radiation therapy. This study from Denmark is one of...
Anterior skull-base surgery: current opinion
This review examines the changes in the field of anterior skull-base surgery and the rapid advancement that has taken place in the last 10–15 years. Tumours of the anterior skull base that were once considered inoperable are now routinely resected...
Choosing our tools: assessing language in dementia
Language led dementia, also known as primary progressive aphasia (PPA), is an emerging area of practice in speech and language therapy. Given that the diagnosis centres around the key diagnostic feature of language, whereby language impairment is the most prominent...
Precautions to be taken in cosmetic facial surgery
In this comprehensive write-up on precautionary measures to be taken when doing cosmetic surgery on our patients, the authors begin by emphasising that facial plastic surgery is no longer limited to celebrities and the privileged. It has extended into everyday...
The power of (younger versus older) lips
The Directional into Velocity of Articulators (DIVA) model theorises that we require both auditory and sensory feedback - from our articulators - in order to ensure we are able to produce precise and powerful articulatory movements. This study aimed to...
Sphenopalatine ganglion block in endoscopic sinus surgery reduces intra and post-operative morbidity
The authors present results of a meta-analysis to investigate the role of sphenopalatine ganglion block (SPGB) in reducing postoperative pain in endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS). An electronic database search (Pubmed, SCOPUS, Google Scholar, Embase, and the Cochrane Register of Controlled...
