We present a novel method of aspirating a peritonsillar abscess in a patient with severe trismus. In our experience, this method is efficient, allows good access to the peritonsillar area and facilitates rapid resolution of the trismus before definitive drainage can be performed.

Angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia is a rare condition that demonstrates dermal or subcutaneous proliferation of endothelial cells associated with an inflammatory cell infiltrate. A case is reported, with emphasis on the histopathological features on repeated biopsies. The report serves to stress the importance of considering this condition in the differential diagnosis of lesions in and around the ear.

Congenital absence of major salivary glands, especially the parotid gland, is a rare entity. It is usually monolateral and is not correlated with accessory salivary gland tissue. Aplasia of parotid gland may occur alone or in association with abnormalities of other salivary glands, first branchial arch developmental disturbances or other congenital anomalies.

We report an interesting case of bilateral aplasia of the parotid glands together with bilateral accessory parotid tissue, without other congenital or developmental anomalies, and we describe the clinical and radiological findings.

Implementation of the European Working Time Directive and the Modernising Medical Careers initiative will mean junior surgeons must be trained in fewer hours over a shorter period. For this reason, junior surgeon training opportunities must be optimized. We undertook a departmental audit to identify where opportunities to train senior house officers (SHOs) in theatre were being lost, so that appropriate timetable changes could be made in order to optimize exposure to suitable surgical cases. During the first audit cycle, the SHOs followed their existing timetable and theatre attendance was monitored prospectively over a two-week period. Only 30 per cent of theatre sessions were attended and case participation was only 27 per cent. Simple timetable changes were made to maximize SHO theatre attendance, and a second prospective two-week audit was undertaken. The new rota yielded 46 per cent theatre attendance and 48 per cent case participation.

The use of laser bronchoscopy in the treatment of tracheobronchial stenosis has been reported in the past. It is generally safe and effective; however, the complications of haemorrhage, airway perforation, or airway fire are relatively frequent among less experienced surgeons. We illustrate a modified technique of laser probe location to simplify the laser ablation procedure.

The purpose of this study was to assess the significance of the expression of p21WAF1/Cip1 and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in human laryngeal squamous cell carcinomas. Forty-eight patients (25 supraglottic, 23 glottic) who had undergone operations between 1998 and 2003 were included in this study. The Envision immunohistochemistry method was utilized to stain these tissue specimens. The results showed that the immunostaining of p21WAF1/Cip1 do not show any correlation with differentiation, N stage, metastasis, survival, recurrence or the laryngeal site of involvement. A significant inverse correlation was detected between p21WAF1/Cip1 and the T stage. In contrast, the percentage of PCNA labelled cells showed a significant correlation with the T stage, but not with other clinicopathological parameters. There were differences in the expression of p21WAF1/Cip1 and PCNA between the supraglottic and the glottic carcinomas. In conclusion, our findings suggest that p21WAF1/Cip1 and PCNA may play an important role in the progression of carcinoma of the supraglottic larynx.

This report highlights innovative ways of overcoming difficulties in delivering effective continuous positive airway pressure in an extremely preterm baby with bilateral cleft lip and cleft palate.

We report two cases of carcinoma in situ in the external auditory canal (EAC), presenting with symptoms such as pain, long-term itching of the ear, easy contact bleeding, canal otorrhea and hearing loss. Otoscopic examination revealed granulation tissue and a greyish-black tumour with irregular surface. The first patient had previously been diagnosed with otitis externa with persistent ear itching for the past three years. The second patient had received tympanoplasty for treatment of chronic otitis media on the right ear ten years ago. The first case was treated with wide excision, whereas the second patient received resection of the skin of the EAC together with its adjacent soft tissue, followed by skin grafting. No tumour recurrence was noted in the fourth and third post-operative year for the first and second patient respectively. We suggest that EAC carcinoma can be detected early and treated.

In general, patients with malignant tumours of the skull base have a poor prognosis. Treatment may have a disfiguring physical and disabling mental effect on patients.

To evaluate the effect of treatment on physical and mental quality of life in patients with skull base malignancy, we conducted a cross-sectional patient survey of 18 patients treated for such tumours, using the University of Washington (version 4) quality of life questionnaire and the hospital anxiety and depression scale.

The total quality of life score (median value) was 980 (550–1125). Patients with anterior skull base malignancy scored lower than those with lateral skull base malignancy (p=0.003).

In general, the worst individual domain scores were: mood (64 per cent); activity (69 per cent); and, specifically for patients with anterior skull base malignancy, taste (54 per cent, p=0.004) and anxiety (60 per cent, p=0.034).

One-third of skull base cancer patients were at risk of suffering from mental distress and psychiatric morbidity (indicated as a score of more than seven on the hospital anxiety and depression scale).

The superior mediastinum contains a considerable number of lymph nodes. Although occasionally involved in head and neck cancer, there are not many reports of mediastinal dissection in the practice of head and neck surgery. We present a group of seven patients with head and neck tumours that underwent mediastinal dissection in our department. Three patients are alive and free of disease six months to three years after the operation, two are alive with disease four and five years after the procedure, and two patients died peri-operatively. According to reviewed current literature, direct invasion of cancer of the head and neck to the mediastinum or mediastinal lymph node involvement is uncommon. Yet, mediastinal dissection provides the only chance for cure in selected cases.

The A1555G mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid (mtDNA) point mutation has classically been associated with sensorineural hearing loss in patients following aminoglycoside exposure. More recently, the mutation has been implicated in sensorineural hearing loss in patients without previous aminoglycoside use. In addition, cochlear implantation has been shown to be effective in the group of patients with prior aminoglycoside exposure but, to date, no case of cochlear implantation in a patient with the A1555G mutation and no prior exposure to aminoglycosides has been explicitly described in the literature.

We report the case of an 80-year-old woman with the A1555G mtDNA mutation, a 35-year history of bilateral progressive hearing loss and no history of aminoglycoside exposure who underwent successful implantation of a Nucleus 24 Contour device at our institution. Post-operatively, the patient exhibited marked improvement in tests of auditory performance.

We conclude that cochlear implantation can be an effective method to restore some sense of hearing in patients with the A1555G mtDNA mutation and sensorineural hearing loss.

Introduction: Preservation of the spinal accessory nerve during neck dissection should be the rule rather than the exception. Despite the presence of many described techniques to locate the nerve, a tedious dissection is often required; as a consequence, it remains vulnerable to damage.

Method: We describe a novel method, not previously reported, based on identifying a constant vein which crosses the nerve. This aids in the nerve's early identification.

Conclusion: Our method enables the surgeon to locate the nerve precisely and to avoid damage to it, thereby maximizing post-operative function.

A rare facial nerve anomaly was incidentally discovered whilst performing a tympanoplasty and ossicular reconstruction on a patient with an acquired unilateral conductive hearing loss. The nerve was seen to bifurcate and straddle a normal stapes superstructure as it ran posteriorly through the middle ear, a unique and as yet unreported combination. This case highlights the importance of vigilance regarding facial nerve anatomical variations encountered during middle-ear surgery thus avoiding inadvertent damage. The purported embryological mechanism responsible for such anomalies of the intra-tympanic facial nerve is discussed.

The Finnish type of familial amyloid polyneuropathy due to variant gelsolin is a rare form of familial amyloidosis. The subtype was first described in 1969 and is characterized by progressive cranial neuropathies, corneal lattice dystrophy and distal sensorimotor dysfunction. It is extremely uncommon, with only two families known to be affected in the UK. We discuss the case of a 70-year-old woman who presented with bilateral facial nerve palsies, bilateral sensorineural hearing loss and Finnish type familial hereditary amyloidosis. A literature search of the Medline database (1966–2005) was performed, using the keywords ‘amyloid’, ‘hearing loss’ and ‘facial palsy’; however, this association appears to be a novel finding. We review the current literature and discuss otorhinolaryngological presentations of amyloidosis.

Salivary gland swelling is a commonly encountered clinical symptom, but the establishment of a diagnosis is occasionally difficult. Here, we present two sialodochitis fibrinosa patients with recurring bilateral parotid swelling. In both patients, secretion of mucous plugs containing numerous eosinophils was observed from Stensen's ducts. As expected, the level of interleukin-5 in the saliva was much higher than that in the serum. One patient had no medical history of allergic disease; the other had allergic rhinitis which had never been associated with parotid gland swelling. Microbiological examination was unable to isolate significant bacterial specimens from the mucous plugs. Thus, although allergy and/or bacterial infection are reportedly implicated as causes of sialodochitis fibrinosa, there may exist other possibilities for its pathogenesis. Interleukin-5 seems to play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of sialodochitis fibrinosa.

Background: The implementation of the European working time directive has led to an increase in cross-speciality out-of-hours cover. This survey illustrates ENT out-of-hours cover arrangements and assesses the implications for senior house officers (SHOs) responsible for managing emergencies.

Methods: A telephone survey of 100 ENT departments was conducted, asking the on-call SHO about departmental structure, on-call rota design, their previous ENT experience, access to SHO training and their confidence in managing emergencies.

Results: 44 per cent of departments used only ENT SHOs on the on-call rota. 73 per cent always had an ENT middle grade on call. In 60 per cent of hospitals, the ENT consultant was sometimes on call with only a non-ENT SHO. At the time of the study, 5 per cent of SHOs had no ENT experience, no access to training, were not confident in managing simple emergencies and were on-call without middle-grade cover.

Conclusion: The current junior on-call structure for ENT has implications for patient management.

Bronchogenic cysts are rare, benign, congenital lesions that occur as a result of aberrant development of the tracheobronchial tree during embryogenesis. They usually present during the first decade of life and are encountered predominantly within the mediastinum or the lung parenchyma. In a few instances, they appear within the neck mimicking a neoplasm and, depending on their size and site, may also cause acute upper respiratory obstruction. We describe a case of two cervical bronchogenic cysts adjacent to the larynx in a child who presented with a hoarse voice.

The complications of concurrent chemoradiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma include dryness of mouth, sensorineural hearing loss, dental caries, trismus, pituitary dysfunction, myelitis, paralysis of cranial nerves IX–XII, massive neck fibrosis and pharyngeal wall necrosis. Tornwaldt's cyst formation after concurrent chemoradiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma has not been reported previously in the world literature. Tornwaldt's cyst, a persistent pharyngeal bursa, is found in about 3 per cent of the adult population, although the majority of these are asymptomatic. We describe the previously unreported complication of Tornwaldt's cyst formation after concurrent chemoradiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Introduction: Some medical emergencies need compromised airway management as the first measure. Most of these cases are first seen by an ENT surgeon, whose proper evaluation and timely intervention can prove decisive. Knowledge of alternatives for airway management can prove life-saving, although these may require the active involvement of other specialities.

Case reports: Two patients, a 27-year-old man and a 31-year-old woman, presented in respiratory distress with cyanosis. Each had a pedunculated mass in the lower trachea above the carina, with about 90 per cent tracheal lumen obstruction. They were managed successfully with femorofemoral cardiopulmonary bypass and restoration of airway.

Conclusion: Femorofemoral cardiopulmonary bypass can be a relatively safe option which gains time for airway management in such conditions. Knowledge of this procedure among ENT surgeons can lead to timely intervention, in properly selected cases, which can save valuable time.

Electrocution is a rare cause of sensorineural deafness. We describe and discuss the first reported case in this country of domestic electrocution resulting in a bilateral sensorineural deafness.