Augmented Reality-Guided Mastoidectomy Simulation: A Randomized Controlled Trial Assessing Surgical Proficiency.

Objective: Mastoidectomy surgical training is challenging due to the complex nature of the anatomical structures involved. Traditional training methods based on direct patient care and cadaveric temporal bone training have practical shortcomings. 3D-printed temporal bone models and augmented reality (AR) have emerged as promising solutions, particularly for mastoidectomy surgery, which demands an understanding of intricate anatomical structures.

Tinnitus affects the relative roles of semantics and prosody in the perception of emotions in spoken language.

Understanding communication difficulties related to tinnitus, by identifying tinnitus-related differences in the perception of spoken emotions, focussing on the roles of semantics (words), prosody (tone of speech) and their interaction. Twenty-two people-with-tinnitus (PwT) and 24 people-without-tinnitus (PnT) listened to spoken sentences made of different combinations of four discrete emotions (anger, happiness, sadness, neutral) presented in the prosody and semantics (Test for Rating Emotions in Speech). In separate blocks, listeners were asked to attend to the sentence as a whole, integrating both speech channels (gauging integration), or to focus on one channel only (gauging identification and selective attention).

Tinnitus Perspectives among Israeli Ear, Nose and Throat Physicians: A Nationwide Survey.

Objectives: To study the compliance of ear, nose, and throat (ENT) physicians to the American Association Otolaryngology-Head - Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS) clinical practice guidelines (CPG) for tinnitus and to identify the disparity of both diagnosis and management options in the absence of a local protocol for the management of adult tinnitus.

Materials And Methods: A voluntary and anonymous questionnaire was emailed in a Google spread-out sheet format to all practicing ENT physicians across the country (n=370). Overall, 126 ENT physicians responded to the questionnaire (34% of the physicians to whom the questionnaire was sent).

The Middle Ear Cleft Status in a "Natural" Cohort With Eustachian Tube Dysfunction.

Background: The Eustachian tube (ET) has a major role in the middle ear (ME) pressure homeostasis. ET dysfunction is the accepted paradigm for pressure-related ME disorders. We studied the ME status in patients with severely diminished ET opening abilities, and anticipated to find ME disorders in most of them.

Cardiovascular Risk Factors Among Patients With Vestibular Neuritis.

Objective: To investigate the correlation between cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs) and vestibular neuritis (VN) in hospitalized adult patients.

Methods: A cross-sectional retrospective study was conducted in a tertiary hospital setting. The medical records of patients (aged over 18 years old) who were hospitalized between the years 2005 and 2014 with the diagnosis of VN were retrieved.

The Impact of Tobacco Smoking Upon Chronic/Recurrent Tonsillitis and Post Tonsillectomy Bleeding.

 Smoking has many adverse effects on the oral and pharyngeal mucosa. Outcomes may be developing tonsillar infections and predisposing for post tonsillectomy bleeding (PTB).  The objective of our study was to determine whether smokers have more chronic/recurrent tonsillitis indicating for tonsillectomy or develop more PTB episodes.

Impact of Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccines on Selected Head and Neck Infections in Hospitalized Israeli Children.

Background: Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major pathogen of pediatric head and neck infections (HNIs), for example, acute otitis media (AOM), acute mastoiditis, acute bacterial sinusitis and meningitis. The aim of this study was to characterize the epidemiology of pneumococcal HNIs (pHNIs) before, during and after the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs).

Methods: Children 0-16 years of age, who were hospitalized with HNIs in the pediatrics department in a general hospital between January 1, 2007, and December 31, 2014, were retrospectively identified.

Acute Mastoiditis in Children: Necessity and Timing of Imaging.

Background: Acute mastoiditis (AM) can be clinically diagnosed, with an option for supplemental imaging: computed tomography (CT) scan and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Debate widely exists whether clinical diagnosis alone is sufficient, in view of the risk of missing undetected complications. We sought to study the reasons leading to the performance of an imaging study during AM course.

Changing trends of acute otitis media bacteriology in central Israel in the pneumococcal conjugate vaccines era.

Background: The widespread use of 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) has changed acute otitis media (AOM) bacteriology. Only scattered data with regard to this effect of PCV13 have been published so far.

Methods: We retrospectively identified children <6 years of age who presented to our hospital with AOM, and had middle ear fluid (MEF) cultures obtained during tympanocentesis or from spontaneous otorrhea during 2008-2013, when PCV7 (2009) and PCV13 (2010) were gradually introduced in the Israeli National Immunization Program.

Adult supraglottitis: changing trends.

There is no clinical dynamic staging system which scores according to severity all the anatomical regions in adult supraglottitis. The objective of the study was to describe the demographics, clinical presentation, interventions and outcomes of adult patients diagnosed with acute supraglottitis (AS), and to study the correlation of a new AS classification with the need for airway intervention, in comparison with the current classification. This was a retrospective, cohort study conducted at a secondary medical care center.

Deep neck infections in cervical injection drug users.

Objectives/hypothesis: To characterize deep neck infections (DNI) in adult intravenous drug users (IDUs) who injected illicit substances to their neck, in comparison to DNI in non-IDUs.

Study Design: Retrospective, cohort study.

Methods: Data were retrieved from medical charts of adult DNI patients in a secondary hospital during 2000-2013.

Acute mastoiditis in the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine era.

Following the introduction of the 7- and 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccines, we observed an inverse relationship between the increasing rate of immunized children and the proportion of middle ear fluid cultures collected during acute mastoiditis episodes that tested positive for Streptococcus pneumoniae among a subset of children 0 to 6 years old who had initially presented with severe acute otitis media and had bacterial cultures collected during tympanocentesis or from spontaneous otorrhea.

Intra-auricular sinus: first description of a variant of the pre-auricular cyst.

Objective: The aim of this study was to describe a rare intra-auricular sinus. An otherwise healthy 15-year-old girl presented with recurrent infections in her right pinna from early infancy. Physical examination revealed a draining sinus which opened to the descending helical limb, while its cystic component was entrapped within the cartilaginous antitragus.

Head and neck manifestations of 22q11.2 deletion syndromes.

The allelic loss of 22q11.2 results in various developmental failures of pharyngeal pouch derivatives ("22q11.2 deletion syndromes", 22q.

Comparison of safety and efficacy of foam-based versus solution-based ciprofloxacin for acute otitis externa.

Objective: To compare and evaluate the efficacy and safety of a foam-based antibiotic formulation in the treatment of acute otitis externa (AOE) with the more conventional solution-based formulation.

Study Design: Phase 2, open-label, randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Multicenter.

Battery ingestion in children.

Introduction: Ingestion of batteries by children became more frequent in recent years, due to the increasing accessibility of electronic toys and devices to children. Due to their electrochemical composition, impacted batteries in the esophagus may cause an extensive damage. Following the removal of a battery, the post-esophagoscopy management is still controversial.

Luc's abscess: the return of an old fellow.

Objective: Mastoiditis, subperiosteal abscess and sigmoid vein thrombosis are the most common suppurative complications of acute otitis media (AOM). Luc's abscess, a subperiosteal temporal collection, is an infrequent complication with a particularly benign course.

Patients: Two children, aged 5 years, presented with AOM complicated by an atypical abscess deep to the temporalis muscle, with no evidence for mastoid or zygomatic arch involvement.

Endoscopic surgery for sinonasal invasive aspergillosis in bone marrow transplantation patients.

Objectives/hypothesis: Sinonasal invasive aspergillosis (IA) is an aggressive fungal infection with high mortality rates. It commonly develops in immunocompromised patients, often after bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Aggressive surgical debridement by an external approach has been considered a central element of treatment.

Chromosomal mapping and phenotypic characterization of hereditary otosclerosis linked to the OTSC4 locus.

Objective: To perform chromosomal mapping and clinical analysis of hereditary otosclerosis linked to the fourth locus for otosclerosis (OTSC4) in an Israeli family.

Design: Pedigree study.

Setting: A genetics of hearing loss research laboratory, a clinical genetics laboratory, a center for speech and hearing, and an otolaryngology department at a university and medical centers in Israel.

Genetics of deafness: recent advances and clinical implications.

Genetic research into the causes of deafness has advanced considerably in the last years. Progress has been made in both discovering loci and cloning genes associated with syndromic and non-syndromic hearing loss. To date, close to 75 loci have been identified and 29 genes have been cloned for non-syndromic deafness.

Purulent chondritis of the laryngeal framework cartilages.

This manuscript reports on our experience with purulent chondritis of the laryngeal cartilages (PCLC), an entity that has not yet been described. Three patients had a diagnosis of PCLC. The probable causes were relapsing polychondritis, a previous prolonged intubation, and an idiopathic cause.