Objectives/Hypothesis: As a cardinal symptom of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), hyposmia has been recommended to be assessed as a component of CRS disease control. Herein we determine the significance of hyposmia in CRS in the context of nasal obstruction and drainage symptoms.Study Design: Prospective, cross-sectional Methods: Cross-sectional study of 308 CRS patients (102 CRSwNP, 206 CRSsNP) without prior endoscopic sinus surgery. The burden of nasal obstruction and hyposmia were assessed using the corresponding item scores on the 22-item Sinonasal Outcome Test (SNOT-22). Burden of nasal discharge was assessed using the mean of "thick nasal discharge" and "thick post-nasal discharge" SNOT-22 item scores. Patients were all asked to rate their CRS symptom control as "not at all," "a little," "somewhat," "very," or "completely."Results: In CRSwNP, only 4.9% had a hyposmia score > 1 with nasal obstruction and drainage scores less than or equal to 1. In CRSsNP, only 1.9% had a hyposmia score > 1 with nasal obstruction and drainage scores less than or equal to 1. On univariate association, CRS symptom control was significantly associated with nasal obstruction, hyposmia, and drainage in both CRSwNP and CRSsNP (P < .05 in all cases). Using multivariable regression to account for all nasal symptoms, only nasal obstruction and nasal discharge scores (but not hyposmia) were significantly associated with CRS symptom control.Conclusions: Hyposmia rarely occurs without nasal obstruction or nasal drainage, and may therefore be redundant to assess for CRS disease control. Moreover, hyposmia was not associated with patient-reported CRS symptom control when accounting for the burden of nasal obstruction and drainage.

Background: Cervicofacial actinomycosis is an uncommon indolent infection caused by Actinomyces spp that typically affects individuals with innate or adaptive immunodeficiencies. Soft tissues of the face and neck are most commonly involved. Actinomyces osteomyelitis is uncommon; involvement of the skull base and temporal bone is exceedingly rare. The authors present a unique case of refractory cervicofacial actinomycosis with development of skull base and temporal bone osteomyelitis in an otherwise healthy individual. Methods: Case report with literature review. Results: A 69-year-old man presented with a soft tissue infection, culture positive for Actinomyces, over the right maxilla. Previous unsuccessful treatment included local debridement and 6 weeks of intravenous ceftriaxone. He was subsequently treated with conservative debridement and a prolonged course of intravenous followed by oral antibiotic. However, he eventually required multiple procedures, including maxillectomy, pterygopalatine fossa debridement, and a radical mastoidectomy to clear his disease. Postoperatively he was gradually transitioned off intravenous antibiotics. Conclusions: Cervicofacial actinomycosis involves soft tissue surrounding the facial skeleton and oral cavity and is typically associated with a history of mucosal trauma, surgery, or immunodeficiency. The patient was appropriately treated but experienced disease progression and escalation of therapy. Although actinomycosis is typically not an aggressive bacterial infection, this case illustrates the need for prompt recognition of persistent disease and earlier surgical intervention in cases of recalcitrant cervicofacial actinomycosis. Chronic actinomycosis has the potential for significant morbidity.

Objective Patient‐reported outcome measures (PROMs) for assessment of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) employ a variety of recall periods and response scales for reporting CRS symptom burden. CRS patient perspective is unknown with respect to recall periods and response scales in PROMs. Design Cross‐sectional study. Setting Tertiary rhinology clinic. Participants Sixty three adults with CRS. Main outcome measures Participants were asked to choose which CRS symptom recall period—1 day, 2 weeks, 1 month or greater than 1 month—was most reflective of their current disease state and best to base treatment recommendations (including surgery) upon. Participants were also asked to report which of six response scales (one visual analogue scale [VAS] and five Likert scales ranging from four to eight items) were easiest to use and understand, and most preferred. Results A majority of participants felt the current state of their CRS symptoms was best reflected by a recall period of 2 weeks to 1 month; however, patients preferred that recommendations about treatments, including endoscopic sinus surgery, be determined by symptoms experienced over at least a one‐month period. Participants generally found the VAS and seven‐item Likert scale to be the easiest to use and understand, and their most preferred scales. No patient characteristics associated with preferences for recall periods or response scales. Conclusion Future PROMs for CRS symptoms should consider assessment of symptoms over a one‐month time frame and use either a VAS or seven‐item Likert response scale to optimally balance reflection of current disease state, need for intervention and patient preference.

Objective Anchor‐based methods to calculate the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) of a patient‐reported outcome measure (PROM) may suffer from recall bias. This has never been investigated for otolaryngic PROMs. We sought to identify evidence of recall bias in calculation of MCIDs of PROMs for patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). Design Retrospective analysis of data from two previous studies calculating the MCID of the 22‐item Sinonasal Outcome Test (SNOT‐22) and 5‐dimensonal EuroQol questionnaire (EQ‐5D) in CRS patients. Setting Tertiary rhinology clinic. Participants Adults with CRS. Main outcome measures SNOT‐22 score, and EQ‐5D visual analog scale scores (EQ‐5D VAS) and health utility values (EQ‐5D HUV) before and after medical treatment for CRS. After treatment, participants were asked to rate the change in sinonasal symptoms and general health (the anchor question) as “Much worse,” “A little worse,” “About the same,” “A little better” or “Much better.” Participants’ responses to the anchor question were checked for association with post‐treatment and pre‐treatment scores using ordinal regression. Results On univariate association, post‐treatment SNOT‐22 and EQ‐5D scores were associated with respective participants’ anchor question responses (P < .001 in all cases). Only pre‐treatment SNOT‐22 score was associated with anchor question responses (P = .017) on univariate association, in contrast to pre‐treatment EQ‐5D scores. Pre‐treatment EQ‐5D scores only associated with anchor question responses when controlling for post‐treatment scores. Conclusion The anchor‐based MCIDs of the SNOT‐22, which reflects disease‐specific QOL, and the EQ‐5D, which reflects general health‐related QOL, appear to be largely free of recall bias.

Chordomas are rare, infiltrative neoplasms of notochordal origin that present along the spinal canal; en bloc surgical resection is paramount to successful treatment. Limited visualization and complex anatomy are major challenges to resection of upper cervical spine chordomas and often require invasive surgery. A 27‐year‐old male presented with an incidentally discovered chordoma of the midline second cervical vertebra of the spine. To obtain en bloc resection of the lesion while both overcoming limitations due to access and without introducing morbidity from traditional anterior approaches, we elected using transoral robotic surgery for resection. Due to complete resection, the patient remains disease‐free and was spared adjuvant radiation. Laryngoscope, 129:1395–1399, 2019