You searched for "dysphonia"

224 results found

Mental practice could be a great COVID-19 solution for delivering swallow rehab

Motor imagery is defined as the process of voluntarily generating a mental image of a motor function without actually doing said function. Mental practice (MP) is the process of doing this repeatedly; practising it. There is some evidence that this...

Everyone has the right to say no

Despite the introduction of the Mental Capacity Act in 2005, healthcare professionals remain uncomfortable with individuals who choose not to follow medical advice - who make informed decisions to decline a treatment or management plans. This paper highlights that speech...

Videofluoroscopic swallowing studies: balancing risks and benefits

Videofluoroscopic swallow studies (VFSS) are an important part of the diagnostic toolkit and arguably the current gold-standard for assessing swallow biomechanics and diagnosing dysphagia. However, the procedure does involve exposure to radiation, and any clinician requesting this should be able...

Post-thyroidectomy vocal cord palsy: are there long-term sequelae?

This is a well written paper utilising the Hospital Episode Statistics dataset for all thyroidectomies performed in England between 2004 and 2012. The study had a very impressive 43,515 participants and only included young, fit patients undergoing thyroidectomy once for...

Impact of lingual pumping in Parkinson’s patients with dysphagia

Dysphagia in Parkinson’s disease (PD) is one of the most important causes of mortality in these patients. Swallowing difficulty in Parkinson’s disease is associated with lingual pumping or festination, anterior escape, premature loss of bolus, oral and pharyngeal retention, multiple...

Gum as a thickening agent in dysphagia management

Foods and fluids are commonly thickened with starch based thickeners in the management of dysphagia to prevent aspiration. Now gums are gaining popularity as thickeners as they are resistant to salivary amylase. This study compared the effect of human saliva...

What type of sensitivity?

It is true that the different types of decreased sound tolerance conditions are, in general, poorly defined and the lines between them blurry. Hyperacusis? Loudness recruitment? Misophonia? Phonophobia? Sensory overload in noise? This paper aims to provide reference data for...

59th Inner Ear Biology Workshop (IEB 2024) and 7th International Conference on Hyperacusis and Misophonia (ICHM7)

This September, two scientific meetings were held together in Warsaw, Poland: the 59th Inner Ear Biology Workshop and the 7th International Conference on Hyperacusis and Misophonia.

Old age is hard to swallow

This article takes us through the diagnosis and management of swallowing problems common in older age. As our global population continues to grow and live longer, dysphagia will continue to be a global problem which needs to be recognised, understood...

BLA Position Statement - Interview with Mark Watson

Author and interviewer: Stefan Linton, ENT Registrar, Manchester Royal Infirmary. We caught up with Mark Watson, President of the British Laryngology Association, to find out his thoughts on the BLA’s position statement on the use of Gardasil vaccination in the...

Standardising videofluoroscopy assessment for bottle-fed babies

Swallowing problems in babies may occur for many reasons including complex medical problems, premature birth, and low birth-weight. Dysphagia causes several further morbidities such as poor nutrition and compromised respiration, often raising distress for both infants and their caregivers. Early...

A soprano’s demise: a cautionary tale for the thyroid surgeon

Prior to the mid-19th century, thyroid surgery was considered excessively dangerous. The emergence of anaesthetic, antisepsis and improved instrumentation, however, increased its feasibility and frequency in Europe. The unhurried, judiciously antiseptic and haemostatic approach, advocated by Kocher, was popularised and...