Sinusitis generally develops as a complication of viral or allergic inflammation of the upper respiratory tract. The bacterial pathogens in acute sinusitis are Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, and Moraxella catarrhalis, while anaerobic bacteria and Staphylococcus aureus are predominant in chronic sinusitis. Pseudomonas aeruginosa has emerged as a potential pathogen in immunocompromised patients and in those who have nasal tubes or catheters, or are intubated. Many of these organisms recovered from sinusitis became resistant to penicillins either through the production of beta-lactamase (H. influenzae, M. catarrhalis, S. aureus, Fusobacterium spp., and Prevotella spp) or through changes in the penicillin-binding protein (S. pneumoniae). The pathogenicity of beta-lactamase-producing bacteria is expressed directly through their ability to cause infections, and indirectly through the production of betalactamase. The indirect pathogenicity is conveyed not only by surviving penicillin therapy, but also by ‘shielding’ penicillin-susceptible pathogens from the drug. The direct and indirect virulent characteristics of these bacteria require the administration of appropriate antimicrobial therapy directed against all pathogens in mixed infections. The antimicrobials that are the most effective in management of acute sinusitis are amoxycillin-clavulanate (given in a high dose), the newer quinolones (gatifloxacin, moxifloxacin) and the second generation cephalosporins (cefuroxime, cefpodoxime, cefprozil or cefdinir). The antimicrobials that are the most effective in management of chronic sinusitis are amoxycillinclavulanate, clindamycin and the combination of metronidazole and a penicillin.

The use of suction drains following thyroid and parathyroid surgery is controversial. Although there have been several prospective and retrospective studies carried out on this subject, no paper had sufficient power to provide a suitable answer to whether or not drains should be used routinely. We present the first formal meta-analysis of the data from eight randomized controlled trials on this subject. The result of the meta-analysis showed that there is no difference in complication rates between patients in whom drains have been used routinely and those in whom they have not.

Tonsil surgery has been described for over 3000 years. Haemorrhage following tonsillectomy remains the most serious complication of surgery. Over recent years several audits have been gathering data on current trends in tonsil surgery and clinical outcomes throughout England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The results support a return to traditional dissection with ties to reduce the risk of post-operative haemorrhage. We describe the changes that have occurred to improve efficacy and safety during the evolution of the modern tonsillectomy.

Background: This review article discusses the clinical and diagnostic implications of anaplastic thyroid cancer, recognizing the aggressive nature of the disease and extensive disease progression upon diagnosis. Standard treatment strategies (surgical, chemotherapy, radiation) are discussed, comparing adjuvant and neo-adjuvant regimens and the emergence of tumour resistance with expression of multidrug resistance pumps. We question the pathological evolution of anaplasia as a ‘de novo’ disease or a post malignant transformation or dedifferentiation and the therapeutic implications of p53 mutation. Future treatment options are reviewed with an emphasis on specific molecular targets responsible for the neoplastic phenotype.

Method: An electronic search on Medline and Pubmed was performed under ‘anaplastic thyroid carcinoma’, ‘anaplastic thyroid carcinogenesis’, ‘anaplastic thyroid carcinoma treatment reviews’. Relevant papers were systematically reviewed from 1965 to present.

As life expectancy increases, surgeons can expect an increasing number of geriatric patients. In turn, the number of elderly patients presenting with head and neck cancer is likely to increase. Management of this subpopulation has become a source of debate because there is a paucity of randomized data regarding the effect of age on treatment response and morbidity associated with the treatment of head and neck cancer. The management of head and neck cancer in the elderly depends on the patient’s age and general condition, the stage of disease, the effects of treatment on quality of life (such as speech and swallowing), patient and family wishes, and active physician participation in continued care. Elderly patient’s comorbid conditions need appropriate attention especially if surgery is to be undertaken. The aim of this review is to examine the current literature in an attempt to develop an approach to the treatment of the elderly patient with head and neck cancer and to define the pertinent issues that require further study.

One hundred consecutive adult cochlear implant patients, numbered 101 to 200 in an ongoing series, were prospectively monitored and data collected using the same protocol as for the first 100 patients. The study period was 1999 to 2001. The total number of procedures was 122. Changes in practice following the first 100 implants included a standard surgical technique with a smaller incision and lesser flap mobilization, and routine facial nerve monitoring. As far as was practicable, the same commercial type of implant was used. There were 111 (91 per cent) implantation episodes, five (4 per cent) explantation episodes, four (3.3 per cent) reimplantation episodes and two (1.6 per cent) revision procedures. Eighty-nine patients underwent unilateral implantation and 11 underwent bilateral implantation.

Major complications included flap breakdown (1.6 per cent), extrusion of electrode array (0.8 per cent) and device failure (0.8 per cent). The overall major complication rate was 3.2 per cent (4/122). The overall minor complication rate was 18 per cent. In addition, 7.3 per cent experienced transient vertigo and 5.7 per cent experienced local discomfort lasting three days on average with complete resolution. The overall complication rate in the second 100 implant patients was lower than in the first 100. Smaller incision and lesser flap mobilization reduced the minor complication rate.

Atrophic rhinitis is a chronic, debilitating and recalcitrant disease of the nasal cavities that is prevalent in several parts of the world. It has unique epidemiological features and clinical characteristics. Clinicians and researchers for decades have tried to postulate theories for the aetiology of the primary form of the disease. Management of the disease has seen several medical therapeutic regimens including alternative forms of medicine. Surgical options for the condition are also not completely satisfactory with a number of failures and recurrences. The authors provide here a comprehensive review of the existing literature as regards the aetiology and management of this refractory condition.

A medical, as opposed to a surgical, specialty which was to be entrusted with the investigation, care and management of patients with hearing and balance disorders was established in the UK in 1975. This medical specialty was termed ‘audiological medicine’ and its specialists, ‘audiological physicians’. The relationship of the audiological physician to the ear, nose and throat surgeon is analogous to that between the neurologist and the neurosurgeon, or to that between the cardiologist and the cardiac surgeon. The audiological physician’s role needs to be distinguished also from that of the audiologist. An audiologist is a scientist (or technician). (In the UK, science is firmly established as an integral and autonomous discipline within British health-care systems.) The role and scope of the audiological physician is clarified. Audiological physicians are concerned primarily with patients suffering from disorders of auditory communication, equilibrium and spatial disorientation, i.e. ‘deaf and dizzy’ patients.

Most studies agree that post-nasal drip syndrome (PNDS), asthma, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GORD), and laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) are the commonest causes of chronic cough in the immunocompetent, non-smoking patient who is not taking an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor. No diagnostic test has been found to define those who are said to have PNDS other than a response to a first-generation antihistamine. Examining the available evidence suggests that mechanical stimulation of the pharynx by mucus is not an adequate theory for the production of cough. Inflammatory mediators in the lower airways are raised in PNDS, cough variant asthma and GORD, and the theory that an inflammatory process is affecting 'one airway' is a plausible one. Nasal disease is more likely to result in cough from the co-existing involvement of the lower airways through an as yet undefined pathway, and eosinophil and mast cell mediation appear a likely mechanism.

Approximately half a million children in England and Wales receive in-patient or day-case surgical treatment annually. Otolaryngology is the surgical specialty that provides the greatest number of episodes of such care. As 30–50 per cent of our total volume of work is paediatric, we feel it is important to assess current attitudes to paediatric otolaryngological practice. In its year 2000 document Children’s Surgery: a First Class Service, The Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) of England sets out recommendations on how children’s surgical services should be delivered in the UK. A postal questionnaire was sent to all UK-based ENT consultant members of the British Association of Otorhinolaryngologists-Head and Neck Surgeons (BAO-HNS). The questionnaire was designed to assess the current practice of paediatric otolaryngology in the UK with an emphasis on the RCS recommendations. Wide variations were found, and they are discussed with reference to the recommendations.

In recent years, there appears to have been an increase in the number of postal questionnaires being received by ENT consultants. Questionnaires with unsound methodology waste the time of those who send and receive them, as inferences cannot be made from their results. In this study, a review was performed on a sample of 19 questionnaire studies published in two ENT journals between January 1998 and December 2002. Each study was given a 30-point score, based on the quality of its methodology. The average score assigned to each study was 32 per cent, suggesting that the quality of methodology was generally poor. These results should serve as a warning to those embarking on and those interpreting research of this kind.