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The middle way: treating idiopathic facial nerve palsy
Whilst the causes of recurrent facial nerve palsy are numerous, in many cases it may be idiopathic. There is no clear consensus on treatment of this condition and conservative management alone may condemn patients to gradually worsening facial nerve function...
Treating keloid scarring with pressure clips following excision: does it work?
Keloid scars can pose a difficult management problem. Whilst not harmful in themselves they can be cosmetically unappealing and lead to social embarrassment and resulting isolation, and following surgical excision they often reoccur. Mechanical pressure is an adjuvant to surgical...
Diagnostic performance of non-echo-planar diffusion weighted MRI in detection of suspected cholesteatoma
Even though a ‘second look’ remains a gold standard for detection of residual cholesteatoma after intact canal wall techniques, non-echo-planar diffusion weighted MRI is considered a reasonable alternative to avoid further surgery. However, to establish or exclude a cholesteatoma de...
Is medical therapy without surgical treatment sufficient in treating peritonsillar abscess?
Standard treatment of peritonsillar abscess (PTA) has typically involved both medical therapy and surgical drainage either in the form of needle aspiration, or incision and drainage. However, is medical without surgical treatment sufficient? The authors suggest that medical therapy without...
Allergy testing in children with beta-lactam hypersensitivity
The beta-lactam antibiotic is commonly used in treating ENT infections in childhood. However, its use can be limited by reported hypersensitivity or allergy to the antibiotic. This is largely attributed to the previous development of skin rashes while being on...
Childhood speech processing in background noise
Normal childhood development of the auditory systems involves mapping sounds to meaning and the neural coding of speech. Children are often subjected to adverse listening environments such as high levels of background noise. This paper aimed to delineate the effects...
The right kit matters… How important is video recording in FEES?
As a portable alternative to videofluoroscopy, fibreoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) is often carried out at the patient’s bedside. The authors of this paper have chosen to examine the reliability of the penetration-aspiration ratings (Rosenbek scale) of FEES examinations...
When should that child’s wet ear be operated on?
The team from Birmingham have provided a meta-analysis to answer the question of when to perform a type 1 tympanoplasty on chronic paediatric perforations (under 18 year olds). Forty-five studies were included which resulted in 2609 cases. Closure rate at...
Does pre-op intratympanic gentamicin improve balance control after vestibular schwannoma surgery?
This retrospective study was based on data from 44 patients selected from a cohort of 153 who had undergone surgical resection of vestibular schwannoma over a 10-year period. The aim was to evaluate the dynamics of the postural control system...
Chemo-radiation in elderly patients with head and neck cancers
Chemo-radiotherapy is the standard of care for organ preservation in stage three and four oropharyngeal cancer, prospective data on patients over 65 has not been available as they are usually excluded from randomised trials. This paper reviews the experience of...
Bone anchored hearing devices in very young children
This paper presents results of BC devices in very young children and helps inform an honest discussion of risks / benefit with prospective parents. The authors of this article from Starship Children’s Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand have a series of...
