Selective lateral neck dissection is a recently-introduced surgical procedure for the treatment of cervical lymph nodes believed to be at risk of metastasis from primary malignant neoplasms of the upper respiratory and digestive tracts. Its value in the management of the clinically negative neck in cancer of the larynx is discussed.

At present there are no topical otological preparations on the World Health Organisation's essential drug list, largely due to the ototoxic potential of preparations containing aminoglycoside antibiotics. Acetic acid and Burow's solution have long been used in the treatment of the discharging ear. The aim of this study was to ascertain the antibacterial activity of these two preparations against the most commonly occurring bacteria isolated from discharging ears in our department. Twenty fresh isolates of each of the following organisms – Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Proteus mirabilis and Streptococcus pyogenes – were plated onto blood agar and tested against one per cent, two per cent and three per cent acetic acid and Burow's solution (13 per cent aluminium acetate). The activity of each agent was ascertained by the size of the zone of inhibition of bacterial growth. Burow's solution showed significantly larger average zones of inhibition than acetic acid (p < 0.001). The two per cent and three per cent acetic acid as well as the Burow's solution were active against all the organisms tested.

The authors have used the nasal endoscope for the precise identification of pathological abnormalities of the nasal septum in relation to the lateral nasal wall including the osteo-meatal complex and in its ultraconservative management. The aim of the study was to compare the efficacies of endoscope-aided septoplasty (EAS) over traditional septoplasty (TS) in treating the pathological septum and turbinates, performed in 30 cases each. The subjective assessment was carried out by visual analogue scores and objective assessment by nasal endoscopy. This study demonstrates the superiority and limitations of the endoscopic approach in managing a deviated nasal septum and the turbinates. The endoscope-aided technique was found to be more effective in relieving the contact areas and nasal obstruction (p = ≤0.05). The authors advocate a combined approach – an endoscopic approach for inaccessible posterior deviation and the conservative traditional technique for accessible anterior deviation of the nasal septum.

Obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) is caused by obstruction or narrowing of the airway at various levels. The repair of one site only will not alleviate the syndrome if there are obstructions in other sites. Epiglottis prolapse during inspiration is an unusual cause of airway obstruction and a rare cause of OSA.

Twelve cases of OSAS due to an abnormal epiglottis are presented. We present our approach to the diagnosis using fibre-optic examination of the hypopharynx, and our treatment using endoscopic carbon dioxide laser partial epiglottidectomy.

We found in our series that in 11.5 per cent of patients who failed the uvulopalatopharyngoplasty procedure, the reason was a narrow airway at the hypopharyngeal level caused by an abnormal epiglottis. It is our suggestion that in these cases a laser partial epiglottidectomy should be performed. The results of this study show that partial epiglottidectomy can increase the cure rate of patients with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome by 10–15 per cent.

Histological features and prognosis of patients with mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the parotid gland were analysed. Tumours from 13 patients were classified according to histological grades and immunoreactivity for HEK-2/neu. Surgical resection of the tumour was performed for all patients, and the overall five-year survival rate was 69 per cent. The patients whose histological grades were 1 or 2 showed a 100 per cent five-year survival rate, but no patient with grade 3 survived five years. Also, patients who had tumours that overexpressed HER-2/new had a lower survival rate (25 per cent) than patients with tumours that had weaker immunostaining (89 per cent). We considered tumours classified as grade 3 plus strong HER-2/neu expression to be ‘high malignancy’, and compared them with ‘low malignancy’ tumours that were grade 1 or 2 and had weaker HER-2/new staining. Patients with high malignancy tumours had shorter recurrence-free intervals and shorter overall survival than patients with low malignancy tumours. The overall survival period of the low malignancy cases was much longer than the recurrence-free interval; unlike that in the high malignancy tumour patients. These results suggest that the combination of histological grades and expression of HER-2/neu may be a useful predictor of the prognosis for mucoepidermoid carcinomata.

The Chief Medical Officers' expert advisory group (The Calman Hine report) (1994) for the commissioning of cancer services suggested that services in the district general hospitals (DGH) should be called ‘cancer units’ and that such units should be closely linked to ‘cancer centres’. The objective of these proposals would be to improve the quality of care to cancer patients. The report also acknowledges that these proposals are based on an inadequate understanding of the epidemiology of cancer within England and Wales and the way in which current configuration of services affects outcome. The authors make a plea for better documentation and recording of treatment and outcomes (i.e. audit) to fill this gap. Registration in cancer registries is of limited value in assessment of outcomes of care owing to lack of detail. This paper describes an audit of head and neck cancer in one department and attempts to define which patients might benefit from referral from the cancer units to the ‘centres’, and conversely, which patients would be better managed in the cancer units. If all patients with cancer of the head and neck were referred, the service in the cancer centres would be overwhelmed. Some system of triage will therefore be essential.

Endoscopic stapling diverticulotomy is an increasingly popular treatment option for pharyngeal pouch. It has been our treatment of choice for the condition for over three years. Of the over 50 cases treated using the technique, three were performed for recurrent pouches – two following previous endoscopic stapling diverticulotomy and one following previous external excision. We describe these three cases to highlight the advantages and effectiveness of the technique in recurrence cases.

A 39-year-old female with a two-year history of mild hearing loss and discomfort on air flight descent was found to have a pulsatile mass behind an intact tympanic membrane. A suspected diagnosis of glomus tympanicum was confirmed by computed tomography (CT) scan imaging. The lesion filled the mesotympanum and hypotympanum but the jugular bony plate was intact, confirming the tympanic site of the lesion. This very vascular tumour was exposed by a tympanomeatal flap and the KTP laser used to shrink and coagulate the tumour progressively with minimal haemorrhage and blood loss. Complete excision of the lesion was achieved without the need for bony removal, and with minimal blood loss. The use of the KTP laser to coagulate this vascular lesion allowed safe removal of the tumour and avoided the need for extended facial recess or hypotympanotomy surgery.

Blunt trauma to the temporal region can cause fracture of the skull base, loss of hearing, vestibular symptoms and otorrhoea. The most common causes of blunt trauma to the ear and surrounding area are motor vehicle accidents, violent encounters, and sports-related accidents.

We present an obscure case of a man who was struck in the ear by a flying fish while wading in the sea with resulting temporal bone fracture, sudden deafness, vertigo, cerebrospinal fluid otorrhoea, and pneumocephalus.

Alpha interferon (α-IFN) is used for the treatment of various systemic disorders. Side-effects of α-IFN therapy can involve numerous organ systems, but sudden hearing loss has only once been recorded. We report a case of sudden hearing loss occurring in a patient with chronic hepatitis C treated with α-IFN and recovered five days after the discontinuation of this agent. This is the first record of anti-endothelial cell antibodies detection in a patient with sudden hearing loss. The finding of anti-endothelial cell antibodies suggests an association between sudden hearing loss and microvascular damage during interferon therapy.

Fibro-osseous lesions involving the paranasal sinuses, the mid-face and anterior skull base are uncommon. In addition, there appears to be no clear pathological or clinical classification that embraces the variety of lesions that exhibit such diverse pathological and clinical behaviour, yet may still be referred to as a fibro-osseous lesion. The diagnosis of fibrous dysplasia and ossifying fibroma is made on a combination of clinical, radiological and pathological criteria.

This paper emphasizes the clinical and pathological differences between fibrous dysplasia and ossifying fibroma. The more aggressive clinical behaviour of the latter is highlighted and a more radical surgical approach i s recommended. In contradistinction, fibrous dysplasia can exhibit a more benign behaviour and radical surgery s i not always justified.

A clinicopathological distinction between these two conditions is important from a management perspective despite the fact that they both may be encompassed under the ‘umbrella’ term fibro-osseous lesion.

Paranasal sinus disease has an established propensity to breach anatomical barriers and present with orbital clinical features. Lacrimal sac lymphomas on the other hand are rare, usually present in males in the sixth decade and 50 per cent of cases have systemic rymphoma/leukaemia. Atypical presentations of lymphomas at this and other sites are reported in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The clinical features, investigations and treatment of a young human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) sero-negative woman with a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma localized to the lacrimal sac and presenting with a concomitant ipsilateral pan-sinusitis is described. The importance of submitting surgical material for pathological investigation is stressed.

According to the committee on speech, voice, and swallowing disorders of the American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, various surgical methods such as laryngeal framework surgery, laryngeal re-innervation, and injection laryngoplasty might be used to palliate inferior laryngeal nerve paralysis. In the present case report we document the survival and exact location of the boluses of autoiogous fat in one patient in whom this material was used for injection laryngoplasty.

Obstructing tumours of the upper airways have been demonstrated to alter the flow volume loop of pulmonary function testing. These alterations could be clues to the nature and location of the obstruction. This report describes a case of a pedunculated squamous cell carcinoma arising in the pharynx whose flow volume loop showed a saw tooth pattern which reflected the location and structure of the tumour.

While evaluating a 61-year-old patient for stridor we incidentally detected a double epiglottis. The patient was also diagnosed of having Weyer's acrofacial dysostosis which is characterized by hexadactyly affecting all four extremities, small and deeply set nails, dental deformities with small, conical teeth and mandibular hypoplasia. The double epiglottis was not the cause for the stridor. Because of the covert symptomatology of double epiglottis it is suggested that the association with Weyer's syndrome is common. Embryological evidence and a review of the literature on laryngeal abnormalities is discussed.

The presence of heterotopic gastric mucosa in the upper oesophagus has been reported to occur in up to 10 percent of individuals but it is usually asymptomatic. We present two pateints with symptomatic oesophageal heterotopic gastric mucosa and discuss the aetiology, pathogenesis, and management of the condition.

Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) is one of the most common malignancies in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); it occurs 25–60 times more frequently in HIV-infected patients than in the general population. This neoplasm in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients is a highly aggressive tumour with a poor prognosis and tends to develop in extranodal sites, such as the central nervous system, digestive tract and bone marrow. NHL involving the paranasal sinuses is rare in HIV-infected patients, and is likely to be confused clinically and radiographically with sinusitis; moreover, its optimal treatment is currently uncertain.

We present a case of NHL involving the left maxillary sinus in a patient with AIDS. The patient was treated with systemic chemotherapy (low dose-CHOP), but the malignancy did not respond. Subsequently, he was treated with local maxillary sinus irradiation which resulted in partial regression of the neoplasm and in decrease of local symptoms.

Computed tomography (CT) provides an excellent map for the sinus surgeon aswell as providing information about the extent of disease and the presence of bony destruction. Surgeons need to be aware of the anatomical configuration of the sinuses and the presence of any structural changes such as a dehiscent lamina papyracea, asymmetric skull base, low level of posterior skull base or an Onodi cell, which place the patient at increased risk. Described here is a six-step guide to help the sinus surgeon avoid missing any of the radiologically important features.