External or internal lateral osteotomy: why I choose the external percutaneous approach.

The authors present their surgical experience with the management of patients with dorsum deformities using a precise technique: the external percutaneous approach. The indications for this technique have still not been set out very clearly in the rhinological textbooks or manuals, and so novices (and not only novices) have difficulty in understanding and applying it. We therefore try to systematise and clarify these indications in brief, together with the technical details, providing a comparison with another technique that is in very widespread use at present: the internal lateral osteotomy.

Autologous costochondral cartilage implant in two cases of velopharyngeal insufficiency.

The velopharyngeal sphincter is critical in enabling the functions of speaking and swallowing. Velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI) results in hypernasal speech and nasal regurgitation. A frequent cause of VPI is congenital cleft palate, but otolaryngologists sometimes encounter iatrogenic VPI after surgery.

The antrochoanal polyp.

The different varieties of choanal polyps are reviewed by the authors according to their implantation pedicle. Their histology, possible pathogenesis, the various symptoms, steps in the diagnostic procedure and differential diagnoses are also described. Finally, the various modes of treatment are discussed, focussing in particular on the surgical methods and the new possibilities offered by developments in the field of endoscopy.

[Relations between vasculotensional disease, sudden deafness and benign paroxysmal postural vertigo: value of anticochlear antibodies].

Some vasculotensional diseases may be associated, at a certain point of their evolution, with occurrences of sudden deafness or of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. It seems that the efficiency of the treatments of sudden deafness and benign paroxysmal positional vertigo is not modified by those associations of pathologies. On the other side, the search for anticochlear antibodies gives a positive result in 45% of the vasculotensional diseases.

[Techniques of uvulopharyngoplasty for snoring].

Snoring is considered abnormal even in children. Breathing difficulties can modify the development of the face and provoke upper respiratory dysfunction. Some surgical techniques are presented.