The proposed rule may assist with safety, but be costly.
Literature Review: A Roundup of Important Recent Studies
Transnasal balloon catheter dilation of eustachian tube relieves ear pressure; fat graft myringoplasty highly successful in certain tympanic membrane perforations; molecular testing may improve differentiated thyroid cancer diagnoses; polysomnography widely used in pediatrics, but not up to practice guidelines; length of intubation, number of sedation doses affect subglottic stenosis risk in children; little difference between tetracaine and lidocaine for nasal endoscopy
Literature Review: A Roundup of Important Recent Studies
MRI cost justified in dysosmia; ESS superior to medical therapy for QOL in CRS; First-line steroid therapy can improve outcomes for ISSHL; TORS total laryngectomy effective for salvage surgery; Cidofovir effective for recurrent respiratory papillomatosis; High-volume academic medical centers have lower complication rates for head and neck oncologic surgery
Medicare Sequester Set to Commence March 1
Health care providers implore Congress to take note of the drag the Medicare reductions will have on the economy, their practices and their patients’ access to care.
Variation in Apnea Hypopnea Index (AHI) Methods Interferes with Diagnosis, Treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea
American Academy of Sleep Medicine develops new scoring rule for hypopneas.
Intratympanic Drug Therapy Effective for Ménière’s Disease
Intratympanic therapy is effective in easing the vertigo that characterizes Ménière’s disease.
2013 CPT Code Changes May Impact Your Practice
New Current Procedural Terminology codes, including codes for reporting pediatric sleep studies and intraoperative neurophysiology monitoring, are now available.
Literature Review: A Roundup of Important Recent Studies
Bilateral cochlear implants improve spatial acuity; SSCD treated with surgical plugging; vocal fold paresis following neonatal cardiac surgery; management of temporal bone defects after oncologic resection; pattern of active HPV expression correlates to disease course; safety of antimicrobial photodynamic therapy for CRS studied
Literature Review: A Roundup of Important Recent Studies
TORS alone effective for select cases of oropharyngeal cancer; swallowing exercises during cancer treatment and muscle maintenance; better analytic tools needed for pediatric OSA; individualized education improves language skills in UHL; vitamin a not an effective treatment for olfactory disorders; ECD as alternative surgery for benign parotid tumors.
Literature Review: A Roundup of Important Recent Studies
Newer surgical procedures not necessarily better; primary frontal sinus endoscopic surgery relieves frontal sinus symptoms in most; success following surgery to correct obstructive sleep apnea dependent upon scoring measures; intranasal splint use after surgery increases patient pain, provides few offsetting benefits; new reprocessing guidelines for ent endoscopes stress high-level disinfection techniques; multicenter study shows feasibility and safety of transoral robotic surgery.