Recent Advances in ENT · Archive
Each day, our harvester pulls peer-reviewed articles from 44 whitelisted ENT journals, scores them for clinical relevance with an AI model, and writes a 1–2 sentence summary lead with the clinical bottom line. 31 articles across 4 days so far.
Both MR and GR are widely expressed across cochlear and vestibular tissues in mammals, but human data are sparse and largely limited to GR, while MR in vestibular tissues remains poorly characterised. Species, strain, and developmental variation in receptor distribution likely explains inconsistent clinical outcomes with corticosteroid treatments for inner ear disease.
Postoperative fluid tested positive for β2-transferrin without confirmed CSF leak on endoscopy, demonstrating that this biomarker can yield false-positive results in the surgical setting and should be interpreted alongside clinical and endoscopic findings.
Endoscopic trans-clival removal of a blow dart penetrating the inferior clivus and craniovertebral junction in a 7-year-old achieved successful foreign body extraction, CSF leak repair, and no neurovascular complications, with the patient discharged on day 5 and sequela-free at 14 months.
FGF-2, especially combined with gelfoam patching, ranked highest for healing rate and speed in moderate-to-large traumatic tympanic membrane perforations across 13 RCTs (n=1285), while edge approximation ranked lowest. Active intervention outperformed watchful waiting, but findings are exploratory pending larger multicentre trials.
Respiratory muscle training improved respiratory muscle strength and spirometric parameters in wind instrumentalists and vocalists, but its effect on musical performance remained inconclusive. Evidence was limited by small samples and methodological heterogeneity across the seven RCTs reviewed.
Pulmonologists classify cough as acute, subacute, or chronic to guide workup and management, and effective treatment of refractory cases requires interdisciplinary collaboration with otolaryngology given frequent overlapping etiologies.
A multidisciplinary chronic cough clinic with otolaryngology and pulmonology jointly assessing patients at the first visit, supported by defined referral pathways to gastroenterology, allergy, and speech-language pathology, reduced diagnostic fragmentation and improved management efficiency.
Aural fullness, otalgia, and hearing loss attributed to ETD can stem from external, middle, or inner ear pathology or from functional, neurologic, or structural causes outside the ear; clinical history, otoscopy, tympanometry, imaging, and vestibular testing differentiated these mimics from true ETD.
Neoadjuvant pembrolizumab, paclitaxel, and carboplatin produced scattered multifocal regression in a recurrent oral tongue SCC, with two discrete residual tumour foci separated by treatment-effect tissue. Intraoperative PET/CT specimen mapping confirmed this spatial pattern, highlighting that pathologic response may not be contiguous.
Stellate ganglion block improved olfactory function in patients with refractory sensorineural olfactory dysfunction, with meta-analysis showing significant benefit over control conditions. Evidence remains limited by small study numbers and heterogeneous populations.
Cholesteatoma caused an occipital abscess via direct posterior fossa extension in this case report, highlighting that occipital pain or swelling in a patient with cholesteatoma warrants urgent imaging to exclude this rare but serious complication.
In children with thyroid nodules, intranodal calcifications (OR 10.33), palpable lymphadenopathy (OR 7.73), increased vascularity (OR 3.21), prior radiation exposure (OR 1.96), and elevated TSH were each significantly associated with malignancy. Papillary thyroid cancer accounted for 84.5% of cases across 2,634 paediatric patients.
Residual or recurrent juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma involuted completely in 41%, reduced in size in 25%, and remained stable in 29% of cases, with only 2% showing progression. Surveillance without further intervention is a safe strategy for asymptomatic patients.
Bimodal stimulation (combined auditory and somatosensory) produced the most consistent and durable tinnitus reductions (≥10–20 points on THI/TFI, sustained to 12 months), while tDCS and rTMS showed nonsignificant pooled effects across 26 RCTs involving 1,576 patients with chronic subjective tinnitus.
Laryngeal control therapy and respiratory retraining, combined with cognitive-behavioural strategies, form the evidence-based multidisciplinary treatment for exercise-induced laryngeal obstruction; diagnosis rests primarily on clinical history, supported by pulmonary evaluation and laryngoscopy to exclude comorbid pathology.
Standard oddball-versus-control comparisons used to infer deviance sensitivity and prediction-error signalling in auditory cortex are insufficient: modelling showed these contrasts can arise from low-level adaptation mechanisms without any regularity representation. Robust conclusions require explicit mechanistic modelling paired with richer experimental designs.
AI applications in communication sciences and disorders showed promise across diagnosis and personalised intervention, with speech-language pathologist expertise improving AI system design for diverse communication disorders. The authors recommend AI literacy, particularly statistical thinking, as a core clinical competency.
Parotid basal cell adenocarcinoma carries a 31% recurrence rate with 5-year DFS of 84%; perineural invasion and omission of adjuvant therapy independently worsened DFS, positive margins worsened disease-specific survival, and follow-up beyond 5 years is warranted given documented late recurrences and distant metastases.
Cochlear symptoms including hearing loss (up to 47%), tinnitus (up to 69%), and aural fullness (up to 51%) occur frequently in vestibular migraine, so episodic vertigo with cochlear features does not reliably distinguish Menière's disease from vestibular migraine.
Symptom unawareness, misinterpretation, and minimisation were the most common reasons head and neck cancer patients delayed seeking care across both high- and low-income countries. Geographic and structural barriers were more prominent in low-income settings, while psychosocial and perceptual barriers predominated in high-income countries.
Head and neck inflammatory myofibroblastic tumours arise most commonly in the sinonasal space and are best treated with wide surgical resection, which achieves cure in most patients. Recurrence occurred in 22% and metastasis in 9%; immunohistochemical positivity for vimentin and SMA, alongside absence of calcification on CT, supports diagnosis.
Oral corticosteroids within 72 hours are strongly recommended for Bell's palsy (Grade A), with antivirals added based on clinical judgment (Grade B); House-Brackmann grading is the standard assessment tool and routine investigations are unnecessary in typical cases.
Floor-of-mouth tumours, bilateral neck dissection, oropharyngeal subsites, and higher ASA class predicted adverse airway events in head and neck reconstruction patients managed without elective tracheostomy. Elective tracheostomy carried its own morbidity, including higher flap complication rates and delayed oral feeding by nearly 6 days.
Tezepelumab significantly improved nasal congestion, polyp scores, olfactory function, and SNOT-22 scores in CRSwNP patients across four studies (n=702), with concurrent asthma control benefits. FEV1 changes were modest and non-significant.
Botulinum toxin A achieved complete remission in 87.6% of vocal process granulomas with only 6.9% recurrence, though intubation-related granulomas responded less durably (70.2% remission, 19.8% recurrence) than contact granulomas. Adverse effects including aspiration and breathiness occurred in up to 29% but resolved within months.
Newer BPPV variants — including light cupula syndrome, canalith jam, and anterior canal canalithiasis — explain previously unclassified nystagmus patterns and inform canal-specific repositioning manoeuvres beyond the 2015 Bárány Society criteria.
CBT-based interventions for misophonia were feasible to deliver and generally associated with reduced misophonia-specific symptoms across 30 studies, but predominantly uncontrolled designs and small samples prevent firm efficacy conclusions. Standardised outcome measures and controlled trials are needed.
Voice training outperformed vocal rest in improving Voice Handicap Index scores and Dysphonia Severity Index in teachers with voice fatigue. Vocal loading task testing reliably tracked treatment response by detecting dynamic changes in fundamental frequency and failure rate over sustained phonation.
Sinonasal sarcoidosis typically took over five years from symptom onset to diagnosis, with nasal obstruction, rhinorrhea, and crusting as the most common presentations. Sinonasal mucosal biopsy confirmed diagnosis in 75% of cases, and systemic corticosteroids produced clinical improvement in 77%, though relapses were common.
Infratemporal fossa approach combined with selective occipitocervical fusion achieved gross-total resection in 92% of lateral skull base tumors extending to the craniovertebral junction, with no recurrence at median 45-month follow-up, though 83% had persistent posterior cranial nerve deficits.
Pediatric laryngeal lymphoma is rare (18 cases identified), predominantly supraglottic non-Hodgkin B-cell lymphoma; localized disease carried favorable outcomes with 50% achieving durable remission, while diffuse disease and immunodeficiency predicted significantly higher mortality (66.7%).
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