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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...

Does the season affect the diagnosis of vestibular disorders?

There are mixed results in the literature regarding seasonal variation in the presentation of various peripheral vestibular disorders. In this large population study involving over 20,000 patients recruited from 116 ENT practices across Germany, the authors analysed the demographic characteristics...

Cochlear implant use in young children

There are clear and well-established links between those identified and fitted with amplification early and good spoken language outcomes, but how much does the time an appropriately fitted hearing instrument is used each day contribute to this? During the first...

A new treatment for chronic rhinitis

The review paper looks at the efficacy of cryoablation of the posterior nasal nerve (PNN) to treat chronic rhinitis, an increasingly popular method of treating a highly prevalent and morbidity-inducing disease. Five studies were included in the meta-analysis, all dating...

Surgical approach to trigeminal neuralgia

This article provides a summary of the operative techniques available for treating patients with trigeminal neuralgia who have medication resistant pain or medication intolerance. Microvascular decompression is performed via suboccipital craniotomy to find and resolve the underlying nerve compression. The...

Oral hygiene and its interaction with standard of education on the risk of oral cancer in women

Oral cancer in women has an increasing incidence in China, although the majority of Chinese women don’t smoke or drink alcohol. Poor oral hygiene has been shown in previous studies to be a risk factor in the development of oral...

To drain or not to drain

These two separate papers neatly tie together the same ideas. The first, a retrospective study of 107 patients and 116 procedures over a 10-year period who underwent a CSF leak repair, 82.2% without a lumbar drain and 17.8% with. The...

Cystic fibrosis – sinus surgery delays chronic Gram-negative lung infection

This prospective clinical follow-up study is of 106 patients with cystic fibrosis in Copenhagen. Morbidity and mortality in CF are significantly associated with pulmonary colonisation and infection, usually with Gram-negative bacteria. Initially this can be well treated with antibiotics until...

Allergy and the ear

Allergic disease is commonly associated with asthma, eczema and rhinosinusitis. The authors reviewed possible associations between allergy and otologic diseases. The authors first explored the possible association between allergy with otitis media with effusion (OME) and found the majority of...

Sinonasal inverting papilloma: who is at risk of recurrence?

This study from a tertiary sinus surgery unit, describes some useful information in the follow-up of sinonasal inverted papilloma patients - in particular those likely to recur - and discusses the optimal staging systems to use to attempt to predict...

Managing high flow head and neck arteriovenous malformations (AVM)

Vascular malformations are lesions where the traditional network of capillaries linking arteries and veins are lacking. Patients usually present with bleeding, pain, disfigurement and tissue expansion and destruction. High flow lesions can be challenging to manage in the head and...