You searched for "pharynx"
Surgically improving pharyngeal paralysis and associated dysphagia
This was an interesting article explaining the current methods used to try and improve dysphagia and in some cases associated problematic aspiration following vagal injury. These patients are often those with other associated cranial neuropathies, with skull base lesions, brain...
Gastro-oesophageal reflux and cricopharyngeal dysfunction – how do they link?
It has been hypothesised that cricopharyngeal muscle hypertrophy develops as a response to chronic gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. The cricopharyngeus muscle is an important component and contributor to the upper oesophageal sphincter that creates a barrier between the pharynx and oesophagus....
In the future there will be robots
This edition of review articles encompasses the emerging techniques of robotic surgery, written by international experts from centres that are increasing their repertoire of procedures. The treatment of oropharyngeal cancer is challenging irrespective of modality, as oncological and functional outcomes...Themistocles Gluck – the true father of laryngectomy
Most head and neck surgeons and ENT-specialists may know that the first laryngectomy for cancer was performed by Billroth on 31 December 1873. Billroth´s assistant, Vincenz Czerny, had outlined the operation in experimental surgery on dogs in 1870. Three years...
Tricky post-laryngectomy swallows
Despite improvements in chemoradiation therapy and the adoption of organ preservation for some head and neck cancers, total laryngectomy remains the treatment often providing best survival chances for advanced laryngeal cancer. This article reviews the causes of dysphagia post-laryngectomy and...
Are upper respiratory symptoms and macroscopic changes in children always due to gastro-oesphageal reflux?
In children, symptoms such as chronic cough, wheezing, stridor, voice changes, persistent asthma and dental erosion are often presumed to be due to gastro-oesophageal reflux and empirical treatment with PPIs is offered. Usual investigations, such as a barium meal, gastroscopy...
Predicting swallowing outcomes post radiotherapy for head and neck cancer
A videofluroscopic swallow study (VFSS), also known as modified barium swallow (MBS) offers a dynamic view of swallow biomechanics and associated swallowing physiology. The authors of this paper investigated whether quantitative timing and displacement measures of key structures involved in...Awake transnasal laryngeal and pharyngeal biopsy in the unsedated patient
In an attempt to improve the efficiency and flow of patients through a busy ENT clinic, technology now allows the ENT surgeon to consider biopsies in the outpatient setting on a more regular and controlled basis. This can avoid the...
Reconstructive Plastic Surgery of the Head and Neck: Current Techniques and Flap Atlas
Head and neck reconstruction continues to provide a challenge to surgeons, driving innovative approaches in free-flap surgery and a need to embrace developing technologies. This excellent text, written primarily by authors from the renowned MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas,...
Speculating on saliva during endoscopy
It has been noted that the presence of saliva in the pharynx and larynx during flexible endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) can be an indicator of increased risk of aspiration and consequent pneumonia, as well as weight loss and malnutrition....Robotic head and neck surgery: current state of the art and future innovations
Technology and innovation has provided modern head and neck surgeons with successive generations of robotic surgical systems, fibre-optic lasers, and novel tools which have ushered in a new era of minimally invasive surgery for tumours of the pharynx and larynx....
