Tele-otology for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People Living in Rural and Remote Areas.

Objective: To evaluate a referral-based, tele-otology service in rural and remote areas of the Northern Territory, Australia.

Methods: A retrospective observational cohort study was performed of a tele-otology service in 93 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities (2011 to 2019). Assessments included face-to-face examinations performed by Clinical Nurse Consultants and audiologists, and asynchronous reviews performed by otolaryngologists.

Establishing a telehealth model addressing paediatric sleep health in remote and rural Northern Territory Australia: Overcoming the distance barrier.

Aim: This study examined the outcomes of a telehealth model for sleep health assessment among Indigenous and non-Indigenous children residing in remote and regional communities at the Top End Northern Territory (NT) of Australia.

Methods: Video telehealth consultation, that included clinical history and relevant physical findings assessed virtually with an interstate paediatric sleep physician was conducted remotely. Polysomnography (PSG) and therapeutic interventions were carried out locally at Darwin, NT.

Inter-rater agreement between 13 otolaryngologists to diagnose otitis media in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children using a telehealth approach.

Introduction: Telehealth programs are important to deliver otolaryngology services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children living in rural and remote areas, where distance and access to specialists is a critical factor.

Objective: To evaluate the inter-rater agreement and value of increasing levels of clinical data (otoscopy with or without audiometry and in-field nurse impressions) to diagnose otitis media using a telehealth approach.

Design: Blinded, inter-rater reliability study.

An Artificial Intelligence Computer-vision Algorithm to Triage Otoscopic Images From Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children.

Objective: To develop an artificial intelligence image classification algorithm to triage otoscopic images from rural and remote Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.

Study Design: Retrospective observational study.

Setting: Tertiary referral center.

Extraction of Aural Foreign Bodies in a Rural Setting: 10-Year Review and a Novel Method to Remove Magnetic Stones.

Background: The external auditory canal's unique anatomical characteristics made the presence of foreign bodies (FBs) a clinical challenge, particularly in rural settings without ready access to tertiary care and specialist intervention.

Aims: Our study surveys the experience in aural FBs surgical management in a rural Australian tertiary center. It proposes a safe, easy, and affordable technique to remove stones from the ear canal.

Disseminated melioidosis in the head and neck.

A 35-year-old man was admitted to an intensive care unit with unilateral facial swelling and septic shock after multiple presentations to the emergency department with non-specific unilateral pain over the parotid area. A CT scan of his neck showed diffuse right-sided facial soft tissue infection, mastoid effusion and temporal lobe cerebritis. The upper lobes of his lungs had cannonball lesions that were suggestive of septic lung metastases.

Myiasis of the ear: a review with entomological aspects for the otolaryngologist.

Objective: Myiasis is the infestation of live humans (or animals) by fly larvae. Although the diagnosis is relatively straightforward, how to best treat aural myiasis has not been well described in the literature. This comprehensive literature review, therefore, was performed to identify current management principles in aural myiasis, especially with regard to the causative fly family.

A novel mutation of COL2A1 resulting in dominantly inherited rhegmatogenous retinal detachment.

Purpose: To determine the molecular defect in a family with autosomal dominant rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (DRRD), and to investigate missplicing as a possible phenotypic modifier of mutations in COL2A1.

Methods: Clinical examination of the family and linkage analysis using markers flanking COL2A1 and COL11A1, the known loci for Stickler syndrome; mutation screening of COL2A1; construction of splicing reporter minigenes and transfection into cultured cells; and RT-PCR analysis of reporter specific transcripts.

Results: A family with DRRD showed no systemic clinical signs (skeletal, orofacial, or auditory) usually associated with Stickler syndrome.