As a Macmillan Head and Neck Specialist Nurse, I was very pleased to be asked to review this book, The Laryngectomee Guide, by Itzhak Brook, MD. It is fair to say that for most laryngectomy patients, life does go on...
You thought tonsilitis was bad? Having your tonsils removed, now that’s a hard pill to swallow. Very well, you’ll no longer have to fear the CENTOR, but how do we make recovery as pain-free as possible? Pantabtim and colleagues set...
Dysphagia is a known sequela of mechanical ventilation and intubation. About a third of patients discharged from hospital after acute respiratory distress syndrome present with dysphagia. The authors of this review have considered the implications for patients intubated due to...
Introduction Temporal bone injuries represent one of the more complex management problems presenting to the otolaryngologist. This is largely due to difficulties in assessment and the frequent delays in referral, often as a result of other injuries demanding more immediate...
The pleasing thud of this book dropping through my letterbox was tempered by mild anxiety. I’d just accepted an adult ENT job with a paediatric on-call, and my trusty Graham, Scadding and Bull was nearly a decade out of date....
How does one build a two-storey house? Start with a firm foundation, followed by a strong structure. Only then can the floors and attic be added. Madell and Hewitt provide practitioners with this same blueprint to facilitate optimal outcomes for...
It is taught that a complete facial nerve (FN) palsy after temporal bone (TB) trauma should be conservatively managed if electroneuronography (ENoG) shows a less than 90% degeneration of response compared to the contralateral side. This small study from the...
Nasal nitric oxide (nNO) is mainly produced in the paranasal sinus mucosa and was shown in some studies to have increased expression in allergic rhinitis (AR). Although it represents a potential non-invasive tool for AR measurement, there remains no consensus...
This is an interesting paper. The authors recommend a transmastoid facial decompression for patients with complete facial nerve paralysis with House Brackman HB 5/6 who do not show any sign of recovery after two weeks of treatment following a diagnosis...
The growing issue of ciprofloxacin-resistant ear organisms is certainly a pertinent one. The situation here in the UK, where ototoxic topical drops are frequently given initially in the presence of pus and a perforation, differs markedly from elsewhere where fluoroquinolones...
Allergic rhinitis (AR) is characterised by allergen binding to IgE on mast cells and basophils and subsequent histamine, prostaglandine D2 (PGD2) and cysteinyl leukotrienes (cysLTs) release causing early-phase response. This is followed by late-phase response mediated by eosinophils. Other cells,...
Facial nerve paralysis (FNP) can occur following trauma, with a small number of these patients requiring facial nerve decompression (FND) to aid recovery. The authors shared their experience in decompressing the facial nerve for persistent severe FNP via a transmastoid...