Smoking and Obesity are Risk Factors for Thirty-Day Readmissions Following Skull Base Surgery.

 Thirty-day readmission has become a significant health care metric reflecting the quality of care and on the cost of service delivery. There is little data on the impact of complications following skull base surgery (SBS) on emergency readmission. Identifying modifiable risk factors for readmission may improve care and reduce cost.

Trigeminal neuropathy in vestibular schwannoma: a treatment algorithm to avoid long-term morbidity.

Background: Trigeminal neuropathy (TGN) can occur as a presenting feature of vestibular schwannoma (VS) or as an adverse effect of radiosurgery. This study was designed to evaluate a treatment algorithm for presenting symptoms of TGN in patients with VS, and a new radiosurgery dosimetric tolerance to avoid TGN after treatment. Outcome was measured after microsurgery (MS), stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), hypofractionated stereotactic radiotherapy (HSRT), and fractionated radiotherapy (FRT).

Vestibular schwannomas - when should conservative management be reconsidered?

Objective: To document the natural history of vestibular schwannomas treated conservatively, and to find if there are any predictive factors for growth and need for active intervention.

Design: A retrospective review of patient notes and radiology, mostly MRIs.

Subjects: Eighty-eight patients managed conservatively for unilateral vestibular schwannoma and that have had at least two radiological investigations.

Effects of ageing on smell and taste.

Disorders of taste and smell commonly present diagnostic dilemmas to the medical profession. This may be secondary to the lack of knowledge and understanding of these conditions. There seems to be a low level of interest in the disorders, when compared with disruption of the other senses such as sight and hearing.

Ageing and the auditory system.

There are a number of pathophysiological processes underlying age related changes in the auditory system. The effects of hearing loss can have consequences beyond the immediate loss of hearing, and may have profound effects on the functioning of the person. While a deficit in hearing can be corrected to some degree by a hearing aid, auditory rehabilitation requires much more than simply amplifying external sound.