Chronic cough that lasts for months?Coughing that occurs in groupings to point where vomiting occurs? Loses breath?You may have whooping cough... Check out this video from the Mayo Clin...
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
In Fall of 2010, the movie "Expendables" directed by Sylvester Stallone was released to lukewarm reviews. A patient mentioned to me that though the plot was thin and the dialogue shallow, there was a scene where one of the actors (Randy Couture) accurately described his cauliflower ear.On a side note, the actor's cauliflower ear is actually real. He was a professional mixed martial arts (MMA) and wrestler before getting into acti...
A very common question our practice gets from patients is what happens next after a decision is made to pursue surgery. What do or should they do next? What do we do?Well, our office created a video cartoon to describe this somewhat intimidating process in a way that is understandable and benign.Watch it he...
Monday, 25 April 2011
Diane Rehm who hosts an NPR show of her name, suffers from a voice disorder called Spasmodic Dysphonia. On April 18, 2011, she hosted a show on vocal issues with expert guests addressing what makes a healthy voice. The experts range from physician laryngologist Dr. Nazaneen Grant to voice coaches.Listen to the show he...
Eustachian tube dysfunction is a phenomenon whereby a person is unable to pop their ears to relieve symptoms of ear pressure, clogging, or fullness. It is much akin to the ear pressure a person experiences when flying, but at ground level. Traditionally, treatment of this condition involved medications like steroid nasal sprays and prednisone along with active valsalva. Once medical treatment has failed, ear tube placement has been the step of last...
Monday, 18 April 2011
It's about TIME!!! I read this fascinating story on NPR here.An all-natural insect repellant called nootkatone found in Alaska yellow cedar trees and citrus fruits (like grapefruit) is being developed by the CDC. It is so safe for humans, it is even an FDA-approved food additive. Nootkatone is not only safe for humans and the environment, it is a highly effective insect repellant. In fact, it is not only a bug repellant, but an insecticide causing...
Friday, 15 April 2011
I read with interest a blog post by Robert Krulwich of NPR fame on why there is so much public resistance to accept changes in truth with new scientific discoveries (some of which was new to even me)...1) Triceratops with their beautifully placed 3 horns is actually the teenage dinosaur version of the adult Torosaurus (who had ugly asymmetric horns). Now... a decision had to be made regarding which name to stick with. Ultimately, "Triceratops" won...
A new webpage has been created describing a procedure called "sleep endoscopy" or "sedated endoscopy."This procedure is performed on patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) or severe snoring in order to determine where the source of their problem is anatomically located.This special exam is needed in patients where such anatomic determination is not able to be made in the clinic while they are awake. As such, an anesthesiologist would put the...
Thursday, 14 April 2011
We have produced a new video demonstrating how vocal cord masses can be injected with medications (like steroids) under endoscopic guidance without the need for any sedation. This video also includes bronchoscopy that was performed at the same time (also without any sedation).Check out the video he...
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Reuters published an interesting story about research that showed doctors don't always recommend treatments to patients that they themselves would pursue if they were sick. In essence, if the doctor was the sick person, they would tend to pursue treatments that carry a higher risk of death but fewer severe side effects whereas patients pursue the exact opposite.Though the clinical scenarios illustrated in the article/research is not reflective of...
Sunday, 10 April 2011
The Doctors TV show actually produced a great (and accurate) segment on a relatively new procedure called sialendoscopy. This procedure allows a surgeon to remove a stone that may be blocking your spit gland from draining saliva into the mouth. This is analogous to a kidney stone which blocks urine from draining from the kidney into the bladder resulting in painful swelling of the kidney (causing flank pain).How does a person know if they have a...
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
This video is of an 8 month old child born deaf who underwent a cochlear implant. This special device allows hearing to be restored to children (and adults) who would otherwise be deaf.Watch the expression and reaction of the child when the implant is turned on and the child hears his mom's voice for the first ti...
Monday, 4 April 2011
Sunday, 3 April 2011
Why August 2012? That's when the patent for singulair, an allergy and asthma medication, goes off-patent. Generic versions of singulair should be expected soon after the patent expires.For those who don't know... generic versions of medications are much cheaper than brand name medications, but contain the same active ingredient. Here's a list of a few brand name medications relevant in the ENT world with generic names in parentheses.Flonase (fluticasone)Prilosec...
Saturday, 2 April 2011
Researchers in Turkey found that there is an association between nasal hair density and risk of asthma developing in patients with seasonal rhinitis patients. No joke... They published their findings in the International Archives of Allergy and Immunology in March 2011.The rate of asthma found in patients with little or no nasal hair was 44.7% whereas only 16.7% of patients with a dense forest of nasal hair had asthma.They hypothesize that increased...
Friday, 1 April 2011
Vocal cord dysfunction (also known as paradoxical vocal cord movement) is a condition where the true vocal cords (TVC) do not move the way they are supposed to. Normally, the vocal cords move apart (abduct) when breathing and come together (adduct) when talking.Vocal cord dysfunction is when the vocal cords adduct (come together) when breathing resulting in shortness of breath and at its worst, complete airway obstruction resulting in stridor known...
CBS news published a story on hypoallergenic pets on their website here.The story did report that pricey pets that claim to be easy on allergy sufferers are probably more hype than true, but than did go on to list dogs and cats that are purportedly hypoallergenic.The claim for hypoallergenicity is based on hair/fur/dander length or quantity... mainly the shorter or smaller the amount, the less allergenic. However, there are other reasons why hypoallergenic...
A research team in Canada has developed a possible cure for patients suffering from cat allergy using a novel type of allergy shot called peptide immunotherapy.To understand the significance of this development, one needs to understand how traditional allergy shots are made. Currently, allergy companies purify a protein called Fel d1 from cats and make a vial out of it. This purification process is like removing the corn kernels from a cornstalk...
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