This study demonstrates that, compared with a control population, these patients experience a significant range of auditory disabilities. It is important that clinicians be aware of the impact of such a profound unilateral HL and its potential to affect daily life. Patient counseling prior to surgery is essential, especially in patients whose loss of binaural hearing could constitute a major disability.

Ultrasound is a useful modality in the evaluation of acute cervical masses but is observer dependent and has a relatively low sensitivity in detecting whether or not pus is present. The clinical indicators for the presence of an abscess are discussed and clinicians should combine clinical findings with the ultrasound findings in order to determine treatment.

No abstract

This is the first reported case of a carcinoma developing in a recurrent pharyngeal diverticulum previously treated by endoscopic stapling and brings to light a rare risk of endoscopic stapling procedures for the treatment of pharyngeal diverticula.

Most available clinical outcome measures for rhinology patients relate to specific nasal disease or general quality of life. Fairley's validated 12-item questionnaire measures general nasal symptoms, but is a 'physician-derived' clinical tool and may not reflect all the problems that rhinology patients experience. Our aims were to develop a patient-orientated questionnaire, representing the concerns of a large number of rhinology patients, called the General Nasal Patient Inventory (GNPI) and compare this with the Fairley nasal questionnaire (FNQ). The GNPI was developed from the open-ended problem lists of 211 rhinology patients, from the 45 most frequent complaints. Both questionnaires were then administered to 153 general rhinology patients and the results compared. The highest-ranking items for each questionnaire were different, but the total scores were highly correlated (r = 0.79, P < 0.0001). Factor analysis showed six factors to account for 75% of FNQ variance and 18 factors for 78% of GNPI variance. The 45-item GNPI, the first patient-derived, comprehensive nasal questionnaire could be a time-saving tool in rhinology clinics and more sensitive to change after intervention than other available measures.