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Is a chest x-ray necessary in making urgent referrals for suspected head and neck cancer?

The article presents an audit on urgent referrals for suspected head and neck cancer in 2144 patients. Only 8.6% of cases proved positive for head and neck cancer. The Scottish Referral Guidelines were adhered only in 55.1% of cases. Interestingly,...

Evidence for diagnostic role of narrow band imaging in the outpatient setting for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Narrow band imaging (NBI) uses light in the blue and green spectrum to differentiate areas of carcinoma from normal or inflammatory tissue. This tertiary referral head and neck unit in Spain used white light endoscopy as initial screening for all...

Is submandibular gland transfer effective in prevention of post irradiation xerostomia in head and neck cancer patients?

Post irradiation xerostomia is a common side effect of irradiation to the head and neck region, with up to 90% of patients reporting some symptoms. Submandibular glands account for 70% of resting saliva production. Surgically transferring the submandibular gland to...

Diagnosis and treatment of snoring in adults – S2k Guideline of the German Society of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

This article summarises the work done by the German Society of Otorhinolaryngology, who have developed guidelines for the management of snoring. ‘S2k’ is German nomenclature for a consensus based guideline, which (for those of you interested in such things), is...

How do objective ratings of swallowing compare with patient-reported dysphagia QOL measures in the head and neck cancer population?

Swallowing may be assessed by a comprehensive battery of tools including instrumental/objective assessments, clinician-rated measures and patient-reported measures. The authors of this paper use secondary analysis to explore concordance between videofluoroscopy and a patient-reported dysphagia quality of life (QOL) measure....

Modifying two-week wait protocol for suspected head and neck cancer patients during COVID-19

As healthcare workers, we are committed to ensuring that our patients continue to receive the optimum care that we are set up to deliver. However, the last year has shown that we need to be mindful of balancing this with...

British Skull Base Society Clinical Consensus Document on Management of Head and Neck Paragangliomas (HNPGLs)

All forms of HNPGLs should be managed by a multidisciplinary team (MDT) of core members from skull base otolaryngology, head and neck surgery, clinical genetics, oncology, endocrinology, vascular surgery, radiology and pathology. Extended members include neurosurgery, endocrine surgery, nuclear medicine,...

Intraoperative identification of primary tumours in unknown primary head and neck cancer using transoral laser microsurgery with frozen sections

The aim of the study was to compare the sensitivity and specificity of intraoperative identification of primary tumours in patients with unknown primary head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (UP HNSCC) using transoral laser microsurgery (TLM) with frozen sections, with...

How effective are our two-week-wait guidelines in picking up head and neck cancer?

With a 30% increase in the incidence of head and neck cancer since 1999 in the UK, it is important that the two-week wait referral guidelines safely encompass all risk factors but also render these urgent referrals based on signs...

From a dysphagia clinical trial to a multidisciplinary head and neck clinical pathway – the road to implementation

This paper describes the barriers and facilitators to establishing a structured and coordinated multidisciplinary care pathway for patients with head and neck cancer at a medical centre in the USA. The initiative was set in motion by the roll out...