Bilateral vocal cord paralysis is a common cause of stridor in infants and children. There are significant differences in this entity between children and adults with regard to etiology, diagnosis, management, and outcome. A review of 10 years' experience at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia identified 51 children seen with the diagnosis of vocal cord paralysis. These cases were evaluated with respect to etiology of paralysis, whether unilateral or bilateral, delay in diagnosis, need for tracheotomy, abnormality of voice, surgical treatment, and outcome. Guidelines for management for a child with vocal cord paralysis are presented with emphasis on flexible endoscopic evaluation and conservative management.

A variety of surgical approaches exists for the management of nasal septal spurs in patients who undergo endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS). Treatment of septal spurs in the past has been frequently addressed by septoplasty which can result in increased bleeding and length of surgical procedure as well as mandate postoperative nasal packing. Individually each of these problems can jeopardize the success of endoscopic sinus surgery. An endoscopic approach, which targets the septal spur alone, can minimize perioperative morbidity. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the effectiveness of endoscopic septal spur resection (ESSR) for the management of significant septal spurs in 8 patients who underwent concurrent ESSR during ESS for chronic sinusitis. Surgical technique and postoperative results are discussed and suggest that ESSR is a valuable alternative to more traditional techniques.

Middle-ear growth was very orderly and systematic in the data reported. When maturation of the area ratio was considered against development of the endocochlear potential or the round window compound action potential, it was clear that the growth of this important aspect of the middle ear preceded the onset of cochlear function.

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Objective: The nasal cycle, which is present in a significant number of people, is an ultradian side-to-side rhythm of nasal engorgement associated with cyclic autonomic activity. We studied the nasal cycle during REM/non-REM sleep stages and examined the potentially confounding influence of body position on lateralized nasal airflow. Methods: Left- and right-side nasal airflow was measured in six subjects during an eight-hour sleep period using nasal thermistors. Polysomnography was performed. Simultaneously, body positions were monitored using a video camera in conjunction with infrared lighting. Results: Significantly greater airflow occurred through the right nasal chamber (relative to the left) during periods of REM sleep than during periods of non-REM sleep (p<0.001). Both body position (p < 0.001) and sleep stage (p < 0.001) influenced nasal airflow lateralization. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that the lateralization of nasal airflow and sleep stage are related. Some types of asymmetrical somatosensory stimulation can alter this relationship.