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When should we decompress the facial nerve in Bell’s Palsy?

It has been over three decades since Fisch popularised facial nerve (FN) decompression for Bell’s Palsy. Studies further exploring this have been few since, partly due to the major complications that can occur following this type of surgery. The current...

Full Vs tapered dose of oral prednisolone for sudden sensorineural hearing loss

I was drawn in by the title of this article, in the expectation that it might be a randomised controlled trial, but it was not. Sudden sensorineural hearing loss is an uncommon condition, which has a potentially disastrous outcome, so...

Waiting for smell to recover after post-viral hyposmia

The patient with post-viral anosmia will always want to know how long they must wait to reach a plateau. This study from South Korea of a comparatively small group (20 controls and 63 patients) tells us that favourable prognostic indicators...

Variability in the management of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC)

This retrospective study analyses for the first time the management planning of thyroid surgeons across the specialties. A questionnaire was sent to members of ENT-UK, the British Association of Endocrine and Thyroid Surgeons, Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and...

Adjuvant radiotherapy for T4N0 laryngeal cancers treated with laryngectomy

A total laryngectomy remains the gold standard for the initial treatment of advanced (T4) squamous cell carcinomas of the larynx without evidence of distant disease. Adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) is also recommended for such cancers. In the absence of other adverse...

Sleep apnoea got your heart in your throat? Perhaps it’s time to ditch the CPAP and fetch the scalpel

The link between obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) is clear. Its well-established association with essential hypertension is thought to link OSA to an increased risk of atherosclerotic and hypertensive sequelae. However, data on the long-term impact of...

Management of necrotising otitis externa

Although uncommon, necrotising (previously malignant) otitis externa (nOE) can be very aggressive, particularly if not managed appropriately. In this study the authors perform a retrospective review of 25 patients admitted with nOE over a four year period at a tertiary...

The need for pre-operative overnight pulse oximetry in children undergoing surgery for obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome

Snoring is a common occurrence in children listed for adenotonsillectomy. This may be associated with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome, in which case the post-operative recovery of these children needs to be closely monitored. This study undertakes to assess whether an...