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Head and neck cancer recurrence: a prospective analysis

The ‘cancer journey’ is synonymous for many individuals worldwide with frequent post-treatment hospital visits where the spectre of possible recurrence hangs over the consultation. This is a prospective analysis of 401 follow-up visits in Melbourne, Australia looking at follow-up in...

Hearing preservation after Gamma knife in vestibular schwannomas

This retrospective study reports the outcomes of hearing preservation up to three years after Gamma knife radiosurgery for Gardner-Robertson Class I (SDS>70% and PTA <30dB) patients with vestibular schwannomas. The authors report that patients with no subjective or objective hearing...

Coblation versus microdebrider submucosal inferior turbinoplasty

This prospective randomised study from Riyadh compares submucosal coblation and submucosal microdebrider inferior turbinate reduction. Seventy patients were recruited who had failed medical treatment and were undergoing isolated inferior turbinate surgery. Outcome measures included the Friedman score and VAS for...

Postinfectious olfactory disorders

Recovery of olfactory function following URTI is frequent, even many years after the infectious insult. Upper respiratory tract infection is the commonest cause of olfactory loss. Many treatment options exist including topical steroids, vitamin B, acupuncture, and zinc, which can...

Quality of life after FESS or balloon sinuplasty

This randomised control trial compared the SNOT-22 questionnaires both pre-operatively and three months post-operatively in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis undergoing either FESS or balloon sinuplasty to the maxillary sinus. Forty two patients participated in the study, 21 in each treatment...

Leptin has no role in idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss

This paper from Turkey claims to be the first study dealing with the relationship between leptin and idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSHL). I remember leptin being a fashionable topic in obesity research, when leptin deficiency was thought to be...

The Impact of sleep endoscopy for paediatric obstructive sleep-disordered breathing

Paediatric obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is not always resolved or improved with adenotonsillectomy. Persistent or complex cases of paediatric OSA may be due to sites of obstruction in the airway other than the tonsils and adenoids. Investigation of paediatric obstructive...

Argh! Facial pain! What to do??

We often come across patients with presentation of facial pain, but unless this is sinugenic in origin, our understanding and management of it can often be found wanting. Craniofacial pain is in fact highly complex and encompasses a wide range...

Evidence for balloon eustachian tuboplasty

Balloon eustachian tuboplasty is an emerging intervention aimed at the management of eustachian tube dysfunction (ETD) and its sequelae. The authors acknowledge that ETD is a common but frequently ill-defined problem, with no well-established direct treatment. They performed a systematic...

Sulcus vocalis in patients attending voice clinics: A retrospective study

Sulcus vocalis was first described by Giacomini. This includes a variety of anatomic indentations of the vocal fold, ranging from shallow longitudinal furrows to deep vocal cord pits. This retrospective study was conducted at King Saud University between 2006 and...

The stigma of HPV in oral cancer

The increase of oropharyngeal carcinoma (OPC) in the developed world seems to be largely caused by infection with the human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV is a group of 150 DNA viruses that are common and most people will be infected at...

Alcohol and the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR)

I was drawn to this paper initially for slightly unscientific reasons but in fact it proved a worthwhile read. It describes the effect of alcohol consumption on the VOR of eight healthy subjects as measured using video head impulse testing...