The treatment of temporal bone carcinoma is a widely discussed topic with marked variation in published results. Most conclude that a combination of radical surgery and radiotherapy is the optimum treatment. The present study reviews the results of radiotherapy used as the main primary treatment for this condition. Five-year survival in 56 patients was 32% for radical and palliative therapy, with an excellent response in 'early' cases. It is concluded that improvement in survival could be attained by defining those groups which would benefit from a combination of treatment methods.

Producing good local anaesthesia of the external auditory meatus and tympanic membrane has always been a difficult problem facing otologists. Previously used methods are mentioned and the use of a new eutectic mixture of local anaesthetics (EMLA) for electrocochleography, myringotomy and grommet insertion in adults and older children is described. A double-blind controlled trial involving 15 patients (30 ears) undergoing electrocochleography showed EMLA to be a very effective, safe and convenient preparation for outpatient otological use.

A series of 151 patients with 154 acoustic schwannomas have been operated upon in Manchester Royal Infirmary by a joint Otological and Neurosurgical team, employing either the translabynnthine or the sub-occipital approach. The perioperative mortality rate was 3 per cent. Anatomical preservation of the facial nerve was achieved in 89 per cent of tumour removals and a good to normal functional result in 79 per cent of cases. Attempts at hearing preservation have been unsuccessful, largely because of the small number of patients in the series in whom useful hearing was present preoperatively. Complications included major brain stem ischaemia (1.2 per cent), CSF fistula (5 per cent) and facial dysaesthesia (7 per cent). The incidence of mortality and morbidity is directly related to tumour size and to the experience of the surgeons. A number of patients experienced an unusual type of post-operative dreamlike state which appeared to be a form of hypnagogic hallucination, and the possible neurophysiological mechanism responsible for this phenomenon is discussed. The continuing failure to attain the ideal of early diagnosis is lamented, and the importance of a flexible bidisciplinary surgical approach emphasized.

A case of meningitis secondary to acute suppurative otitis media in a previously healthy child is reported. The only organism isolated from blood after aerobic and prolonged anaerobic culture was identified as Fusobacterium necrophorum. Complete recovery followed treatment with surgery and prolonged antibiotic therapy. The role of anaerobes in the development of meningitis, the isolation and identification of Fusobacterium necrophorum, the clinical presentations of F. necrophorum infection and the choice of antibiotics in the treatment of these infections are discussed.

The nasal valsalva and the trumpet manoeuvre with anterior neck skin traction are complementary techniques for improving the view of the hypopharynx.