THRIVE is a physiological mechanism for oxygenating and ventilating patients who are under general anaesthesia and who have diminished or absent respiratory effort [1]. Classical ventilation requires bulk flow of gases into and out of the lungs driven by chest...
Dysphagia commonly affects patients in intensive care units (ICU), particularly those on mechanical ventilation, and is associated with high risk of mortality. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to identify predictors for dysphagia in ventilated ICU patients by summarising existing...
Prescribing nasal steroids and decongestants. It’s something most of us do routinely, in an effort to reduce chronic middle ear effusion in an adult by trying to improve eustachian tube (ET) patency. This study used clever devices (tube manometry and...
Timely detection and effective management of this potentially fatal condition cannot be overemphasised. This study presents 16 cases over 12 months in a tertiary referral centre. Most patients had diabetes and others were immunocompromised due to radiotherapy, immunosuppressive medication or...
This article examines the career of deaf African American, Andrew Foster, and his contribution to deaf education in Sub-Saharan Africa. The history of medicine has often been guilty of attributing great revolutions to a single person (usually a white man)...
Since 1977, when the first edition of the Manual for Staging of Cancer was published by the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC), the primary tumour staging for oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) has remained unchanged. In the last four...
Rinze Tange and I were co-authors for the otosclerosis chapters of both the seventh and eighth editions of Scott-Brown’s Otorhinolaryngology which he references in his book. It was particularly exciting therefore to receive this beautiful 363-page treatise on all that...
The African Head and Neck Society (AfHNS) held a one-day Symposium at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, followed by a Head and Neck Ultrasound course and a Head and Neck Cadaver Dissection course. The Symposium and Head and Neck Dissection Course were supported by the International Federation of Otorhinolaryngological Societies (IFOS).
We often come across patients with presentation of facial pain, but unless this is sinugenic in origin, our understanding and management of it can often be found wanting. Craniofacial pain is in fact highly complex and encompasses a wide range...
While many patients with chronic rhinosinusitis respond to medical treatment, some do not. The next step for these patients is surgery, but how soon should this be offered? Sooner rather than later seems to be the answer, as Claire Hopkins...
The phrase ‘burnout’ is often heard, but what is it, and what are the early warning signs? Importantly, how can it be prevented or managed? Over the last few years, health professional wellbeing, mental health, and burnout have come to...
We all have patients who give us a ‘heartsink’ feeling; for many of us, the coughing patient is exactly such a situation. In this overview, Bhaskar Ram and Sangeeta Maini outline their approach to diagnosis. Declan Costello, Editor. Introduction Chronic...