The global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has necessitated rapid alterations to diagnostic pathways for head and neck cancer patients that aim to reduce risk to patients (exposure to the hospital environment) and staff (aerosol-generating procedures). Transoral fine needle aspiration cytology offers a low-risk means of rapidly diagnosing patients with oral cavity or oropharyngeal lesions. The technique was utilised in selected patients at our institution during the pandemic. The outcomes are considered in this study.

Diagnostic outcomes were retrospectively evaluated for a series of patients undergoing transoral fine needle aspiration cytology of oral cavity and oropharyngeal lesions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Five patients underwent transoral fine needle aspiration cytology, yielding lesional material in 100 per cent, with cell blocks providing additional information. In one case, excision biopsy of a lymphoproliferative lesion was required for final diagnosis.

Transoral fine needle aspiration cytology can provide rapid diagnosis in patients with oral cavity and oropharyngeal lesions. Whilst limitations exist (including tolerability and lesion location), the technique offers significant advantages pertinent to the COVID-19 era, and could be employed in the future to obviate diagnostic surgery in selected patients.

Endoscopic frontal sinus surgery is frequently complicated by post-operative stenosis and obstruction of the frontal sinus outflow tract, resulting in recurrent disease. Frontal sinus stents may help prevent re-occlusion of the frontal neo-ostia.

This paper presents a simple and cost-effective approach to frontal sinus stenting using modified Silastic nasal splints.

The current technique provides an effective, reliable and inexpensive method for achieving post-operative frontal sinus outflow tract patency.

Coronavirus disease 2019 is an international pandemic. One of the cardinal features is acute respiratory distress syndrome, and proning has been identified as beneficial for a subset of patients. However, proning is associated with pressure-related side effects, including injury to the nose and face.

This paper describes a pressure-relieving technique using surgical scrub sponges. This technique was derived based on previous methods used in patients following rhinectomy.

The increased use of prone ventilation has resulted in a number of referrals to the ENT team with concerns regarding nasal pressure damage. The described technique, which is straightforward and uses readily available materials, has proven effective in relieving pressure in a small number of patients.

Whilst aortopexy is an accepted and established procedure, there remains considerable heterogeneity within the literature, with inconsistencies in both the approach taken and the technique employed. Furthermore, limited data exist on both patient selection and long-term outcomes. This study aimed to report the experience of managing severe tracheomalacia by way of aortopexy in a large UK paediatric centre.

A retrospective case note review was conducted. Mean follow up was five years.

Twenty-five patients underwent aortopexy for severe tracheomalacia caused by external vascular compression. Acute life-threatening events precipitated investigation in 72 per cent of cases. Twenty-one patients initially presented to ENT services for investigation, which comprised upper airway endoscopy and imaging with computed tomography angiography. Post-operatively, the majority of patients demonstrated complete resolution of symptoms and were discharged from all associated services. Only four patients required a tracheostomy.

Aortopexy offers an effective method of treating severe tracheomalacia due to vascular compression.

Children with autism spectrum disorder face a broad range of communication and sensory challenges. Many of these children also have chronic ENT issues. This study aims to better understand these challenges and improve our services for children with autism spectrum disorder.

Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were carried out with parents of children with autism spectrum disorder.

Thirty-four individuals participated, comprising 9 caregivers and 25 staff members. All parents recognised their critical roles in understanding their children's special needs and sensitivities. Parents and staff stressed the importance of a partnership role that inquired about unique needs, leading to environmental modifications for individual children.

The importance of listening to and involving caregivers is a fundamental tenet; parents must be recognised as the experts. Uncertainty must be kept to a minimum, with clear communication in a structured, low-arousal environment for these children. We have listened to parents and staff, and developed a social story.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 emerged in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and was declared a global health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization on 30th January 2020. It has resulted in almost 600 000 deaths to date worldwide. Sudden sensorineural hearing loss is a known complication of a number of viral infections, but there is little in the literature to date on its association with coronavirus disease 2019.

This paper presents the case of a 30-year-old female staff nurse who contracted coronavirus disease 2019 and presented to our department with a significant unilateral sensorineural hearing loss confirmed on audiogram. She was treated with a course of oral steroids, but unfortunately there was no improvement in her hearing.

This case report is important as it highlights the importance of having a low index of suspicion when patients present with a variety of symptoms not previously associated with coronavirus disease 2019. The paper also discusses the controversy surrounding the use of steroids in the management of this disease.

This paper presents a case of an isolated pituitary fossa metastasis on a background of a previously treated tonsillar squamous cell carcinoma.

A 64-year-old male, diagnosed with a primary p16-negative squamous cell carcinoma in the right tonsil, was treated with a course of chemoradiotherapy with curative intent. Positron emission tomography/computed tomography, performed at six months post-treatment, revealed a good local response and no distant metastases. The patient was placed on routine follow up at two-monthly intervals. Two months into follow up, he presented with a right-sided oculomotor nerve palsy and partial Horner's syndrome. Imaging and biopsy revealed a pituitary fossa metastasis (p16-negative squamous cell carcinoma), and a further positron emission tomography/computed tomography visualised this lesion. He was deemed unsuitable for further intervention and underwent palliative radiotherapy for symptom control.

This case represents the first reported isolated pituitary fossa metastasis from a tonsillar squamous cell carcinoma. A high degree of clinical suspicion is recommended, along with a low threshold for biopsy and a cautioned use of positron emission tomography/computed tomography, when investigating such patients.

There are sparse data on the outcomes of endoscopic stapling of pharyngeal pouches. The Mersey ENT Trainee Collaborative compared regional practice against published benchmarks.

A 10-year retrospective analysis of endoscopic pharyngeal pouch surgery was conducted and practice was assessed against eight standards. Comparisons were made between results from the tertiary centre and other sites.

A total of 225 procedures were performed (range of 1.2–9.2 cases per centre per year). All centres achieved 90 per cent resumption of oral intake within 2 days. All centres achieved less than 2-day hospital stays. Primary success (84 per cent (i.e. abandonment of endoscopic stapling in 16 per cent)), symptom resolution (83 per cent) and recurrence rates (13 per cent) failed to meet the standard across the non-tertiary centres.

Endoscopic pharyngeal pouch stapling is a procedure with a low mortality and brief in-patient stay. There was significant variance in outcomes across the region. This raises the question of whether this service should become centralised and the preserve of either tertiary centres or sub-specialist practitioners.

Implantation of bone-anchored hearing devices is performed to improve hearing in patients with chronic suppurative otitis media who cannot wear a conventional hearing aid. The surgical procedure can be safely performed in children aged over five years.

A 15-year-old patient with bilateral chronic suppurative otitis media and conductive hearing loss underwent the procedure to implant a bone-anchored hearing device but was found to have skull thickness of less than 2.5 mm and the procedure was abandoned. A computed tomography scan of the skull was undertaken and a three-dimensional template was reconstructed to identify appropriate thickness of the skull to implant the abutment during a second procedure.

Bone-anchored hearing devices can be implanted by prior imaging and using a template to identify the area of appropriate skull thickness to implant the abutment safely.

Coronavirus disease 2019, a highly transmissible respiratory infection, has created a public health crisis of global magnitude. The mainstay of diagnostic testing for coronavirus disease 2019 is molecular polymerase chain reaction testing of a respiratory specimen, obtained with a viral swab. As the incidence of new cases of coronavirus disease 2019 increases exponentially, the use of viral swabs to collect nasopharyngeal specimens is anticipated to increase drastically.

This paper draws attention to a complication of viral swab testing in the nasopharynx and describes the premature engagement of a viral swab breakpoint, resulting in impaction in the nasal cavity.

This case highlights a possible design flaw of the viral swab when used to collect nasopharyngeal specimens, which then requires an aerosol-generating procedure in a high-risk patient to be performed. The paper outlines a safe technique of nasal foreign body removal in a suspected coronavirus disease 2019 patient and suggests alternative testing materials.

Rigid oesophagoscopy is a widely used therapeutic and diagnostic procedure. Smooth friction-free insertion of the rigid scope is important to prevent oral and oesophageal mucosal damage, as such damage can cause delays in oral intake or more serious complications such as perforation. Protection appliances such as gum guards are useful adjuncts to cushion the teeth in rigid oesophagoscopy; however, there are no specific adjuncts for the edentulous patient.

In order to investigate different adjuncts, the force required to pull a standard adult rigid oesophagoscope from a metal clamp whilst enclosed in dry gauze, wet gauze, a gum guard or sleek on gauze was recorded, and a prospective audit of post-procedural trauma was performed.

Less force was required to create movement of the scope against sleek on gauze, with a lower rate of oral trauma (8 per cent) compared to that reported in the literature. Sleek on gauze is recommended for the edentulous patient.

Mastoidectomy is considered an aerosol-generating procedure. This study examined the effect of wearing personal protective equipment on the view achieved using the operating microscope.

ENT surgeons assessed the area of a calibrated target visible through an operating microscope whilst wearing a range of personal protective equipment, with prescription glasses when required. The distance between the surgeon's eye and the microscope was measured in each personal protective equipment condition.

Eleven surgeons participated. The distance from the eye to the microscope inversely correlated with the diameter and area visible (p < 0.001). The median area visible while wearing the filtering facepiece code 3 mask and full-face visor was 4 per cent (range, 4–16 per cent).

The full-face visor is incompatible with the operating microscope. Solutions offering adequate eye protection for aerosol-generating procedures that require the microscope, including mastoidectomy, are urgently needed. Low-profile safety goggles should have a working distance of less than 20 mm and be compatible with prescription lenses.

Defining the risk factors for Eustachian tube dysfunction can facilitate its prevention. It is hypothesised that Eustachian tube dysfunction as measured by the Eustachian Tube Dysfunction Questionnaire-7 is associated with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome.

The questionnaire was systematically translated into Hebrew and validated in the accepted manner. This questionnaire was applied to obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome patients before and after expansion sphincter pharyngoplasty, in pre-set time intervals. The results were compared to those of controls from the general population.

Thirty-one patients (males:females = 19:12) were enrolled in the obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome group. Mean age was 43 years (range, 31–55 years) and mean body mass index was 28 kg/m2 (range, 27–30 kg/m2). Median apnoea-hypopnea index (pre-operatively) was 34 events per hour. The questionnaire scores in expansion sphincter pharyngoplasty candidates were significantly worse than in controls (p < 0.001). Expansion sphincter pharyngoplasty did not change Eustachian tube function in the long term, but was associated with additional self-limiting Eustachian tube dysfunction in the first two post-operative months.

Eustachian tube dysfunction is significantly worse in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome compared to controls. Expansion sphincter pharyngoplasty is not associated with Eustachian tube function improvement.

Mastoid surgery is an aerosol-generating procedure that involves the use of a high-speed drill, which produces a mixture of water, bone, blood and tissue that may contain the viable coronavirus disease 2019 pathogen. This potentially puts the surgeon and other operating theatre personnel at risk of acquiring the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 from contact with droplets or aerosols. The use of an additional drape designed to limit the spread of droplets and aerosols has been described; such drapes include the ‘Southampton Tent’ and ‘OtoTent’.

To evaluate the use of a novel drape ‘tent’ that has advantages over established ‘tent’ designs in terms of having: (1) a CE marking; (2) no requirement for modification during assembly; and (3) no obstruction to the surgical visual field.

During mastoid surgery, the dispersion of macroscopic droplets and other particulate matter was confined within the novel drape ‘tent’. Use of this drape ‘tent’ had no adverse effects upon the surgeon's manual dexterity or efficiency, the view of the surgical field, or the sterility. Hence, our findings support its use during mastoid surgery in the coronavirus disease 2019 era.

The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical effect of the removal of nasal vestibular cysts through a modified longitudinal incision via a transoral sublabial approach.

In 28 cases, a nasal vestibular cyst was removed through a modified longitudinal incision via a transoral sublabial approach. A visual analogue scale score was used to evaluate the numbness of the nasal alar and upper lip. Post-operative complications were recorded. Medical photographs were used for assessment.

For all patients, incisions reached clinical primary healing one week after surgery. All patients were free of post-operative haematoma, infection, oronasal fistula and malformation. In the first week and the first month after surgery, numbness of the nasal alar and upper lip was recorded in few cases. The patients were followed up for 2–57 months without recurrence.

Removal of nasal vestibular cysts via a transoral sublabial approach with a modified longitudinal incision is a minimally invasive and simple surgical method with few complications and a quick recovery.

Coronavirus disease 2019 was declared a pandemic on 11th March 2020. All non-urgent surgical procedures have been postponed indefinitely. The British Association of Head and Neck Oncology state that only those with treatable head and neck cancer unsuitable for alternative treatment should undergo surgery. This paper details our management of a patient who tested positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 days before curative surgery for laryngeal cancer.

By following British Association of Head and Neck Oncology guidance, a 49-year-old male scheduled for total laryngectomy and bilateral neck dissection for a T3 transglottic squamous cell cancer was pre-operatively identified as an asymptomatic carrier of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2. Following 14-day isolation and laboratory proven viral clearance, he underwent successful major surgery. He was managed throughout the peri- and post-operative phases without complications or adverse effects on staff.

With careful planning, previous coronavirus disease 2019 positive status should not prevent an individual from undergoing successful total laryngectomy and bilateral neck dissection in a safe and timely manner during the pandemic.