When performing certain procedures, many otolaryngologists use succinylcholine, a neuromuscular blocking agent, to help them monitor the facial nerve.

When performing certain procedures, many otolaryngologists use succinylcholine, a neuromuscular blocking agent, to help them monitor the facial nerve.
For decades, otolaryngologists have been frustrated by the refusal of some patients with hearing loss to use hearing aids. Statistics on noncompliance vary, but there is general agreement that only about 20 percent to 25 percent of Americans with treatable hearing loss use hearing aids. The problem seems to be more acute for people with mild hearing loss: A consumer survey conducted by the nonprofit Better Hearing Institute in 2009 found that fewer than 10 percent of people with mild hearing loss use amplification and that even among people with moderate-to-severe hearing loss, only four in 10 use amplification.
At the Triological Society’s Annual Meeting in April, Robert H. Ossoff, DMD, MD, Maness Professor of Laryngology and Voice and assistant vice-chancellor for compliance and corporate integrity at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, will assume the presidency of the society. Dr. Ossoff will be filling the role currently held by Gerald Berke, MD, chief of head and neck surgery at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The question of how soon to give antibiotics to children with acute otitis media (AOM) is receiving renewed attention with the publication of two studies that show the benefit of immediate treatment over the “wait-and-see” approach recommended in the 2004 guidelines of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAP/AAFP).
I read with great interest the article published in the December 2010 issue of ENT Today, “Safety Net: With violence on the rise, otolaryngologists implement prevention strategies”. Physician safety in the workplace is still largely ignored and your article serves to further awareness of the problem. I thank you for providing this forum.
When Kevin Watson joined Colorado Otolaryngology Associates, PC, as administrator nearly two years ago, the Colorado Springs practice wasn’t asking patients about their care experience in a systematic fashion. “They had done some patient surveys, but it was all hard copy and they hadn’t received a great response,” he said.
One of the most common criticisms of the 2010 health care reform law is that it doesn’t do enough to reduce health care costs. Richard Gilfillan, MD, however, begs to differ.
Patients who had residual neck disease after treatment for a primary head and neck squamous carcinoma and then underwent neck dissection had comparable survival rates to those who had their disease resolved after their initial chemotherapy and radiation treatment, according to a retrospective analysis from researchers at the University of Louisville in Kentucky presented here Jan. 27.