There is no one right answer to the question of which imaging test is best for patients with hearing loss who are candidates for cochlear implantation. Age, underlying pathology and the ability to tolerate radiation and sedation are just a few of the variables that can determine whether magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT) or both are chosen in this clinical setting.
A subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group has launched an online hearing test and a line of lower-cost hearing devices that are generating alarm about patient safety among otolaryngologists.
More and more options are emerging to help patients improve their hearing, a group of aural rehabilitation panelists said on Jan. 27 at the Triological Society Combined Sections Meeting.
A new treatment algorithm for advanced otosclerosis, based on the clinical experience of Dutch investigators and supported by a literature review they conducted, suggests that the window for successful cochlear implantation (CI) in patients with severe disease is narrower than some otolaryngologists may believe .
It is now well recognized that pathogens found in biofilms play a role in many mucosal-based otolaryngologic-related infections, but what that role is and how to prevent or treat biofilms remain unknown, concluded a panel of experts convened here on Sept. 17 at the 2011 American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Annual Meeting.
Physicians have noted the potential for dizziness in migraine patients since the 19th century. And yet the 21st century has so far failed to bring any unifying definition to a symptom that is frustratingly diffuse in its intensity and frequency and unclear in its origins.
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.
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).
A 33-year-old white male presented with a one-year history of right-sided odynophagia. Symptoms were constant and exacerbated by swallowing. He had a history of cryptic tonsils but had not undergone tonsillectomy; his past medical history was otherwise unremarkable. There was tenderness to palpation over the right tonsil with exacerbation of symptoms. No head and neck masses were appreciated. A CT scan was obtained.