As in radiation-induced cancer, post-irradiation sudden deafness (PISD) is defined as sudden onset deafness in patients post-irradiation. Fifteen nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients with PISD were enrolled in this study. The mean interval from the completion of irradiation to the occurrence of PISD was 12 years. Seven had total deafness, seven had profound hearing loss, and one had moderate hearing loss. Nine out of 15 (60 per cent) patients experienced hearing recovery within three months after treatment. In conclusion, PISD is a late complication in NPC patients post-irradiation. The causative mechanism is theorized as vascular insufficiency.

The suprahyoid neck can be divided into fascia-bound spaces. These spaces, which are readily demonstrated on computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), form the anatomical framework for generating differential diagnosis and assessing disease extent. By correlating the radiological features with clinical information, the diagnostic possibilities of demonstrated lesions could be narrowed down considerably. Multiple space involvement is common in inflammatory and neoplastic processes and the full extent of these lesions should be outlined to facilitate surgical or radiotherapy planning.

Adenoid hypertrophy is known as the most common cause of nasal obstruction in children; thus, adenoidectomy with, or without, tonsillectomy is one of the most commonly performed surgical procedures in the paediatric population. Although many methods have been suggested, few studies have reported on how to assess adenoid size, pre-operatively. Acoustic rhinometry is an objective technique as well as a non-invasive method, which can be easily used in young children. This study confirmed that acoustic rhinometry is a non-invasive and objective technique for assessing the geometry of the nasal cavity and nasopharynx. Forty children were evaluated using symptomology, two different radiological measurements and acoustic rhinometry; the results were compared with endoscopic findings. Clinical symptoms and A/N ratio measured with Fujioka's method significantly correlated with the endoscopic assessment findings (r = 0.769 and 0.604 respectively). Significant increases in the cross-sectional area and volume of the nasopharynx were observed at the adenoid notch after adenoidectomy (p<0.005 and p<0.005, respectively). Acoustic rhinometry showed a high degree of correlation of which adenoid occupied the nasopharyngeal airway under endoscopic examination (r = 0.771). Thus, the study concluded that acoustic rhinometry can be as good an objective method for measuring adenoid sizes as endoscopy and can be used as one of the pre-operative examination tools for adenoidectomy.

Day surgery is increasing to improve the efficient use of NHS resources and it is vital that the quality of patient care is not compromised. The Audit Commission has recommended that there should be a systematic appraisal of the patient's views to monitor quality of day care. A survey of parental satisfaction with paediatric day-case surgery provides valuable information for those providing day surgery. A specific area of dissatisfaction previously identified is inadequate pain control following discharge. It is also suggested that day surgery may incur higher costs for the general practitioner.

A retrospective study to investigate parental satisfaction with 100 paediatric otorhinolaryngology cases was performed. This study found 96 per cent of parents were happy with the treatment their child received, 89 per cent were satisfied with self-administered simple analgesia and no patients visited their general practitioner on the day following surgery. It is concluded that with careful selection and adequate support the degree of satisfaction with day surgery is high for a wide variety of procedures.

We describe the technique of ultrasound-guided 18 gauge (1.2 mm) needle biopsy in 16 patients with parotid gland lesions. This provides material suitable for histological analysis and can be performed quickly and safely under local anaesthesia. Thirteen of the patients had non-diagnostic blind fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) with a 21 gauge (0.8 mm) needle prior to biopsy. Initial ultrasound was found to be superior to clinical examination in 31 per cent of cases. The ultrasound-guided technique provided a diagnostic specimen in 100 per cent of patients and was helpful where FNAC had been inconclusive. There was a diagnostic accuracy of 100 per cent in the patients who underwent subsequent surgery. This method should be considered when FNAC is non-diagnostic and surgical treatment is being considered. It is particularly useful in patients with diffuse enlargement of the gland and does provide a core of material for accurate assessment of tissue architecture. In this series, nine patients avoided unnecessary surgery.

Nasal septal perforations are anatomical defects of the nasal septum, causing dynamic alterations in nasal physiology which may lead to variable symptoms and otolaryngological referral.

Repair of nasal septal perforations continues to remain a difficult surgical problem, and nowadays there is no definitive solution for their successful surgical closure.

Thirty patients with small- or medium-sized anterior nasal septal perforations were treated with a simple technique of backwards extraction-reposition of the quadrangular cartilage. Prior nasal septal surgery and repeated cautery were the most common cause of perforation. After a minimum follow-up of two years the success rate for relief of symptoms and closure of the perforation was 87 per cent.

This technique showed very good results in small-sized and selected cases with medium-sized perforations, but the mucosal dissection employed is not suitable for medium to large perforations.

Radiation-associated tumours are rare complications of radiotherapy. This study seeks to highlight and discuss the clinically challenging problem of radiation-associated tumours (RATs) in the temporal bones of seven patients previously irradiated for nasopharyngeal neoplasm.

Seven patients (six males and one female) with radiation-associated temporal bone tumours are presented (five squamous cell carcinomas, one osteogenic sarcoma and one chondrosarcoma). The initial nasopharyngeal disease for which radiotherapy was indicated was nasopharyngeal carcinoma (six patients) and nasopharyngeal lymphoma (one patient). The latency period between radiotherapy and presentation of temporal bone tumours ranged from five years to 30 years with a mean of 12.9 years. All the patients underwent surgical tumour resection. Three patients had post-operative radiotherapy and one patient underwent pre- and post-perative chemotherapy. Two patients died from the disease within three months of treatment with one patient surviving 36 months at the time of writing. One patient died from an unrelated medical condition three months after surgery.

With refinement in radiotherapy techniques and the resultant increase in patient survival, there may be more patients with radiation-associated tumours in the future. It remains imperative for clinicians to be vigilant when patients previously irradiated for nasopharyngeal carcinoma present with otological symptoms as the key to the successful management of this condition lies in the early detection and expedient treatment of this difficult disease.

Laryngeal obstruction due to bilateral vocal fold paralysis has been treated in many different ways. The CO2 laser or KTP-532 laser endoscopic cordectomy described in this report is a slight modification of the posterior partial cordectomy proposed by Dennis and Kashima. This technique was used in 18 patients (14 with the CO2 and four with the KTP-532 laser). Prophylactic tracheostomy was performed preoperatively. Post-operative results were excellent in nine cases, good in seven cases and poor in two cases who had to remain with a permanent tracheostomy tube with a speaking valve. The main complications noted were the formation of a granuloma (seven cases) and arytenoid oedema (six cases). Revision surgery was performed in the seven cases with granuloma formation and in the two with persistent oedema. The results and the post-operative findings from the use of the two lasers were similar.

At switch-on (first post-operative stimulation of the implant) and during subsequent reprogramming, electrodes can, in some patients, be found to be non-functional or to be performing sub-optimally for a number of reasons. This paper examines the reasons for the poor performance of these electrodes by means of a retrospective analysis of 100 patient records. All of these patients received the Nucleus multichannel device.

The most common reason for an electrode to require de-activation was found to be facial nerve stimulation, with poor sound quality and pain also being very common. Other reasons included absence of auditory stimulation, vibration, reduced dynamic range, throat sensations, absence of loudness growth or dizziness. The occurrence of these reasons along the electrode array was examined, more basal electrodes being found to be non-functional as a result of having a small dynamic range or poor sound quality. Pain and vibration were found to occur throughout the array and the more apical electrodes were found to be non-functional as a result of facial nerve stimulation. It is suggested that the electrodes at the basal end of the array are likely to be extra-cochlear or are at the site of the most cochlear damage, whereas the more apical electrodes lie in closer proximity to the facial nerve.

Intubation granuloma of the larynx is an iatrogenic disease which is induced by endotracheal intubation. It has basically been managed by conservative medical treatment with observation. Surgical excision can be considered as a last resort due to the high recurrence rate which subjects the patients to repeated anaesthesia. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the therapeutic effect of topical steroid in intubation granuloma, comparing the results of conservative medical treatment with, or without, surgery (Group I, 14 patients) and inhalant therapy with topical budesonide (Group II, 20 patients).

In Group I, complete disappearance of granuloma occurred in six cases within a year (42.8 per cent) with conservative therapy only. Microlaryngeal surgery was performed on the eight cases of persisting granuloma after conservative therapy for a year, resulting in two cases of recurrence. In Group II, the granuloma disappeared completely in 85 per cent within six months and in 95 per cent within 12 months without any remarkable side-effects. We concluded that intubation granuloma of the larynx could be treated with topical inhalant steroid as the first choice of therapy rather than other medical treatment or surgical intervention.

Total laryngectomy for advanced carcinoma of the larynx is effective but functionally disabling. In an effort at laryngeal preservation, 33 patients of stage III/IV carcinoma larynx were treated between 1987 and 1991 with induction chemotherapy followed by definitive radiation. Two chemotherapy protocols were administered. Group I patients received one to three cycles of cisplatin 100 mg/m2 (day 1), bleomycin 15 U/m2 (day 1), and 5-fluorouracil 1000 mg/m2/day (day 2 to 5) at three weekly intervals. This was then followed by radiotherapy. Group II received one to six weekly injections of single agent methotrexate 50 mg/m2 with or without leucocovorin rescue followed by radiotherapy. Any recurrence was salvaged by surgery.

Midway through the study, Group II protocol was discontinued as the initial results were not comparable with Group I or standard treatment. The Group I protocol, however, yielded an initial locoregional control rate of 83.3 per cent With the addition of surgical salvage the locoregional control rate was 94.4 per cent and the control rate with laryngeal preservation was 88.8 per cent. The Kaplan-Meier probability of two years and five years disease-free survival was 81.9 per cent and 61.4 per cent respectively. For disease-free survival with laryngeal preservation the corresponding figures for two years and five years were 58.3 per cent and 41.7 per cent.

The control group of 51 patients treated with radical surgery followed by radiotherapy yielded survival figures at two years and five years of 64.3 per cent and 57.2 per cent. The difference in the survival of Group I and the control group was not statistically significant (p value = 0.280). These initial results indicate that for stage III and for surgically resectable stage IV laryngeal carcinomas, a protocol of induction combination chemotherapy consisting of cisplatin, bleomycin and 5-fluorouracil followed by radiotherapy and combined with surgical salvage whenever required, can lead to comparable cure rates. In addition, a large proportion of patients are spared the morbidity of a total laryngectomy.

Over a 26-year period, from 1970 to 1995, 2250 pre-operative vocal fold checks were carried out by the ENT team at Manchester Royal Infirmary in patients undergoing thyroid, parathyroid and cardiothoracic surgery. A register was kept of all pre-operative fold checks. This register was retrospectively analysed and 23 vocal fold palsies were documented. In six of these patients the notes were either missing or incomplete. All of the remaining 17 patients had a history suggestive of vocal fold palsy. We suggest that in the absence of symptoms, either current or on history, a routine pre-operative vocal fold check is unnecessary.

The aim of this study was to evaluate Eustachian tube function by ventilation scintigraphy. In 13 patients with normal tube function and 16 with one-sided tube dysfunction, 50 MBq 133Xe was applied into the nasopharyngeal space through a tube inserted into the nasal cavity. Immediately after the insufflation, the patients were asked to perform three Valsalva manoeuvres.

The visualization of the middle ear was possible in 10 of the 13 patients (77 per cent) with normal tube function. Decreased uptake of the middle-ear region in the side of dysfunction was demonstrated in 11 of the 16 patients (68.7 per cent) with one-sided tube dysfunction. Quantitative evaluation by region of interest technique revealed that by using percentage retention of activity and uptake rates, there were significant differences between the sides of dysfunction and sides of normal tube function (p<0.05) and also between sides of dysfunction and both sides of controls (p<0.05). There was no significant differences between normal sides of patients and both sides of controls (p>0.05).

As a conclusion, this method is non-invasive, easy-to perform and has a low radiation burden in the evaluation of Eustachian tube function. Although the number of patients is limited, the test seems to be applicable with a success rate of about 74 per cent.

Peritonsillar infections include cellulitis and abscess (quinsy). Clinical diagnosis is often supplemented by diagnostic drainage (aspiration or incision) in an effort to distinguish abscess from cellulitis. In a prospective study of 14 patients we have shown that clinical impression alone is unreliable (sensitivity 78 per cent, specificity 50 per cent). Computerized tomography (CT) (sensitivity 100 per cent, specificity 75 per cent) and intraoral ultrasound (sensitivity 89 per cent, specificity 100 per cent) are much more reliable. We propose that intraoral ultrasound could play a useful role in the clinical assessment of peritonsillar infections helping to improve accuracy in distinguishing abscesses from cellulitis.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the ultrasonographic appearances of nodal metastases in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) revert to normal after radiotherapy.

Serial ultrasonography was performed in 18 patients with palpable nodal metastases in the neck who underwent radiotherapy for NPC. All patients had a pre-radiotherapy baseline and another study at least one year after radiotherapy. The largest node in each patient was evaluated for any change in the ultrasonographic features following radiotherapy.

One year after radiotherapy nodes returned to normal size for their respective areas, the shape of the node and the echogenic hilus also reverted to normal. However, the nodes are more echogenic than nodes in normal subjects. This distinguishes these nodes from nodes not affected by radiotherapy. The histological basis for this observation is presumed to be the result of fibrosis.

At first glance the post-radiotherapy nodes may resemble normal nodes, however subtle changes within the node and adjacent soft tissues can be recognized on ultrasonography. During long-term follow-up, the appearance of nodes at sites previously uninvolved or any change in the appearance of nodes should alert the sonologist to the possibility of recurrence.

Nose drops are widely used in the topical treatment of nasal disorders. Their efficacy has previously been shown to depend on the position of the head adopted during instillation. All three of the commonly recommended head positions (head back, praying-to-Mecca, Mygind's) are uncomfortable, and this may affect patient compliance. As yet, no assessment has been made of the discomfort encountered by patients. Twenty adults from a general otolaryngology clinic were asked to adopt each of three positions and then rate the discomfort experienced on a 10 cm visual analogue scale. The results show that although Mygind's position is well tolerated, the praying-to-Mecca position was significantly more uncomfortable than any other. In the absence of any evidence that the praying-to-Mecca position is clinically more efficacious than Mygind's, it seems inappropriate to continue to advocate its use.

Modern non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), are now widely accepted analgesics for posttonsillectomy patients, but their effect on secondary haemorrhage has not been fully evaluated.

This study attempts to evalute the influence of NSAIDs on the secondary haemorrhage rate, and also whether mode of dissection is an important factor.

The records of 557 consecutive patients undergoing tonsillectomy were studied to determine if there was a relationship between the secondary haemorrhage rate and discharge prescription of NSAIDs.

There was an overall secondary haemorrhage rate of 5.2 per cent (29) and a significantly increased secondary haemorrhage rate in those taking regular NSAIDs, 11 per cent, compared to those not taking NSAIDs, 1.47 per cent, ().

There was a higher rate of secondary haemorrhages with bipolar dissection than with standard dissection for both those taking and not taking NSAIDs (13 per cent vs seven per cent and 2.75 per cent vs 0.87 per cent) however this was not statistically significant ( and ). Both bipolar dissection and standard dissection individually showed very significant increases in secondary haemorrhage rate when on regular NSAIDs ( and ).

Although NSAIDs are very good analgesics, they may cause an increased secondary haemorrhage rate, and should be prescribed at discharge prescription with caution.

The aim of this prospective study was to establish a measure of short-term quality of treatment after tonsillectomy/adenotonsillectomy. One hundred and thirty-four questionnaires, returned after 14 days, from 41 children and 93 adults were analysed. Forty-seven per cent had one or more consultations with health-care professionals. Eighty-three consultations by telephone and 33 consultations in person were made. Two recent studies reported higher consultation rates in person to doctors compared to this study. The predominant reason for consulting health-care professionals was pain. Maximum pain scores were significantly higher among those with consultations vs. no consultations (p = 0.0001). Additionally, the intensity as well as the duration of maximal pain increased with the number of contacts per patient (p = 0.0001, p = 0.0045). Sixty-four per cent felt relieved after consultation by telephone and 83 per cent felt relieved after consultation in person. The present study suggests consultation rate as a parameter of quality of treatment and quality of information.

The improved cost-effectiveness of gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRIg) as a diagnostic tool for vestibular schwannoma has resulted in smaller tumours being diagnosed. There has been a change in the clinical presentation of these tumours and up to four per cent may present with unilateral tinnitus. The limitation of auditory brain stem response (ABR) as a screening tool that detects small tumours is recognized and there is a strong argument for using MRIg as the initial investigation.

Various screening guidelines have been proposed, some include submitting patients with unilateral tinnitus for MRIg. This report describes the findings in a group of 174 patients presenting with unilateral tinnitus who underwent MRIg as part of a guideline-directed screen to exclude vestibular schwannoma. Five patients had a cause for their tinnitus diagnosed, one a vestibular schwannoma. Two had intracranial aneurysms and another three had pathology revealed that merited onward referral. A further nine patients had incidental findings that neither accounted for their symptoms nor needed further investigation or referral.

The rationale for screening these patients with MRIg is discussed.

All patients in the Birmingham Cochlear Implant Programme underwent computerized tomography (CT) scanning and were assessed and images interpreted by the main author. Of the first 100 cases, 20 were considered to have abnormalities of the inner ears by CT imaging. It is concluded that the commonest abnormality was cochlear otospongiosis followed by labyrinthitis ossificans.

Otospongiosis is well shown by CT which gives a good predicator of luminal patency.

However, labyrinthus obliterans, although usually apparent on CT, is not reliably shown in all cases and T2 weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is better.