Otolaryngology News and Research

RSS

The medical discipline and practice of otolaryngology is a specialty that addresses conditions of the ears, nose, and throat. Another name for this practice is otolaryngology head and neck surgery.

Study suggests new target for drugs to treat head and neck tumors

The increased activation of a key oncogene in head and neck cancers could be the result of mutation and dysfunction of regulatory proteins that are supposed to keep the gene, which has the potential to cause cancer, in check, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

7 Jan 2014

University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System to open new Mile Square Health Center

The University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System will open the doors to a new Mile Square Health Center Jan. 6.

5 Jan 2014

Chief Financial Officer of Modernizing Medicine selected as finalist for South Florida CFO Awards

Modernizing Medicine, Inc. announced today that the South Florida Business Journal selected its Chief Financial Officer Karen O'Byrne as a finalist in this year's CFO Awards.

3 Jan 2014

New tool may help predict retinal detachment after open globe injuries

Ocular trauma causing open globe injury, or a breach in the wall of the eye, remains an important cause of vision loss, with more than 200,000 open globe injuries occurring worldwide each year. In many cases, retinal detachment follows the traumatic injury, causing significant vision loss or blindness.

2 Jan 2014

Surgery offers better survival, functional outcomes than chemotherapy for patients with tongue cancer

Patients with tongue cancer who started their treatment with a course of chemotherapy fared significantly worse than patients who received surgery first, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

27 Dec 2013

Researchers identify potential therapy for meibomian gland dysfunction

Meibomian gland dysfunction is the leading cause of dry eye disease, which affects tens of millions of Americans. However, there is no FDA-approved treatment for MGD. Researchers from the Schepens Eye Research Institute/Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Harvard Medical School have just identified a potential therapy.

24 Dec 2013

Research: Beatboxing may be gentler on injury-prone vocal cords

You might think that beatboxing, with its harsh, high-energy percussive sounds, would be harder on the voice than the sweet song of a soprano. But according to new research by voice expert Dr. H. Steven Sims of the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System, beatboxing may actually be gentler on the injury-prone vocal cords. His findings were published Dec. 23 online in the Journal of Voice.

24 Dec 2013

Reflux disease diagnosis: an interview with Professor Peter Dettmar, Managing Director of RD Biomed Limited

Generally speaking, reflux has been a major chronic issue for probably the last 40 or 50 years. When you look at the global population, depending on which country we're talking about, around 20% to 40% of individuals have reflux disease within their populations.

23 Dec 2013

Surgeons at French hospital perform first Navio UKR procedures

Blue Belt Technologies announces the first Navio™ unicondylar knee replacement (UKR) procedures performed in France, completed on September 30th, October 15th and Nov 4th 2013 by Professor Philippe Neyret and Dr. Sébastien Lustig at Hospices Civils de Lyon in France.

23 Dec 2013

Study supports mounting evidence that inflammation may be the cause of chronic rhinosinusitis

Saint Louis University researchers have analyzed the microbiomes of people with chronic rhinosinusitis and healthy volunteers and found evidence that some chronic sinus issues may be the result of inflammation triggered by an immune response to otherwise harmless microorganisms in the sinus membranes.

20 Dec 2013

U-M researchers report novel approach for treating tinnitus in humans

For tens of millions of Americans, there's no such thing as the sound of silence. Instead, even in a quiet room, they hear a constant ringing, buzzing, hissing, humming or other noise in their ears that isn't real. Called tinnitus, it can be debilitating and life-altering.

17 Dec 2013

First patient enrolled in Otonomy's pivotal Phase 2b study of OTO-104 for Meniere's disease

Otonomy, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapeutics for diseases and disorders of the inner and middle ear, today announced enrollment of the first patient in its pivotal Phase 2b study of OTO-104 for the reduction of vertigo in patients with unilateral Meniere's disease.

11 Dec 2013

Researchers develop new drug-eluting contact lens for prolonged delivery of glaucoma medication

10 Dec 2013

Researchers one step closer to development of drug-eluting contact lens for glaucoma treatment

For nearly half a century, contact lenses have been proposed as a means of ocular drug delivery that may someday replace eye drops, but achieving controlled drug release has been a significant challenge. Researchers at Massachusetts Eye and Ear/Harvard Medical School Department of Ophthalmology, Boston Children's Hospital, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are one step closer to an eye drop-free reality with the development of a drug-eluting contact lens designed for prolonged delivery of latanoprost, a common drug used for the treatment of glaucoma, the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide.

9 Dec 2013

Study helps explain why survival gap persists for African-Americans with head and neck cancer

A team of scientists at Johns Hopkins and in Texas has identified a handful of genetic mutations in black Americans, in addition to some chemical alterations affecting gene activity, which may help explain why the death rate among African-Americans from the most common form of head and neck cancer continues to hover some 18 percent higher above the death rate of whites with the same cancer.

9 Dec 2013

Researchers may have figured out ways to attack Meniere's disease

Researchers at University of Colorado School of Medicine may have figured out what causes Meniere's disease and how to attack it. According to Carol Foster, MD, from the department of otolaryngology and Robert Breeze, MD, a neurosurgeon, there is a strong association between Meniere's disease and conditions involving temporary low blood flow in the brain such as migraine headaches.

7 Dec 2013

Diversity essential for brain's ability to localize sounds

The ability to localize the source of sound is important for navigating the world and for listening in noisy environments like restaurants, an action that is particularly difficult for elderly or hearing impaired people.

4 Dec 2013

Genetic diagnostic test for inherited eye diseases now available from Mass. Eye and Ear

The Massachusetts Eye and Ear/Harvard Medical School Department of Ophthalmology today announced the availability of a comprehensive genetic diagnostic test for inherited eye diseases.

22 Nov 2013

Zale Lipshy University Hospital receives 2013 Press Ganey Beacon of Excellence Award

Zale Lipshy University Hospital at UT Southwestern Medical Center received the 2013 Press Ganey Beacon of Excellence Award for patient satisfaction, one of only three academic medical centers in the nation and one of 26 health care facilities selected nationally to receive that distinction.

21 Nov 2013

Intraoperative RLN monitoring prior to thyroid surgery improves surgical outcomes

Intraoperative recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) monitoring has gained popularity with approximately 53 percent of general surgeons and 65 percent of otolaryngologists using intraoperative nerve monitoring in select or all cases.

19 Nov 2013