Treatment of hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasias with sclerotherapy: A case series.

Background: Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is characterized by abnormal blood vessel formation. One treatment for HHT-related arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) is sclerotherapy, which collapses the blood vessels by irritating the endothelial lining.

Methods: This case series describes two HHT patients undergoing in-office sodium tetradecyl sulfate sclerotherapy for non-nasal telangiectasias and AVMs.

Safety of Small-Diameter Endotracheal Tubes in Microlaryngeal Surgery.

Objectives: Microlaryngeal surgeries require unique considerations for airway management to facilitate patient safety and adequate surgical exposure. Small-diameter endotracheal tubes (ETTs) are widely used but have raised concerns regarding patient safety, including questions about the potential for barotrauma, effective ventilation, and adequate oxygenation. We hypothesize that small ETTs will prove to be safe in a variety of cases.

Predictors of Response to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Patients With Tinnitus.

Importance: Clinical guidelines recommend cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as a treatment for tinnitus. However, patient response to CBT is variable, and currently, there are no known predictors of response to CBT treatment for tinnitus.

Objective: To identify the clinical predictors of patient response to CBT for treatment of tinnitus.

Clinical studies in COVID-related olfactory disorders: Review of an institutional experience.

Objective: To share a single institutional experience with clinical research on COVID-related olfactory dysfunction (OD).

Data Source/method: Narrative review of published original data and ongoing clinical trials on COVID-related OD at Washington University from 2020 to 2023.

Results: There were three new diagnostic-/patient-reported outcome measures developed and tested.

Tracheostomy Incidence and Complications: A National Database Analysis.

Objective: To describe the incidence of tracheostomy-related complications and identify prognostic risk factors.

Study Design: Administrative database analysis.

Setting: Outpatient and inpatient insurance claims records obtained from a national database.

Mandibular Advancement vs Combined Airway and Positional Therapy for Snoring: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Approximately 150 million individuals in the US snore in the absence of obstructive sleep apnea (primary snoring), but few studies have examined the efficacy of treatments for snoring or evaluated the effect of snoring in sleeping partners.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of 2 treatments for primary snoring.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This pilot randomized clinical trial that included a convenience sample of people who snore without sleep apnea and their sleeping partner who underwent 4 weeks of snoring treatment was conducted at an academic medical center between October 3, 2022, and July 3, 2023.

Preoperative Mobile Health Data Improve Predictions of Recovery From Lumbar Spine Surgery.

Background And Objectives: Neurosurgeons and hospitals devote tremendous resources to improving recovery from lumbar spine surgery. Current efforts to predict surgical recovery rely on one-time patient report and health record information. However, longitudinal mobile health (mHealth) assessments integrating symptom dynamics from ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and wearable biometric data may capture important influences on recovery.

Individual Patient Comorbidities and Effect on Cochlear Implant Performance.

Objective: To examine the association between preoperative comorbidities and cochlear implant speech outcomes.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort.

Setting: Tertiary referral center.

Prognostic Factors for Survival Using a Clinical Severity Staging System Among Patients With Acute Invasive Fungal Sinusitis.

Importance: Despite the aggressive progression of fulminant acute invasive fungal sinusitis (AIFS), data on prognostic factors have been disparate, hindering the development of a staging system. A composite staging system may improve prognostication for patient counseling and conduct of clinical research.

Objective: To identify prognostically important factors in AIFS and to incorporate the factors into a comprehensive Functional Severity Staging System and Clinical Severity Staging System.

Smoking, Drinking, and Dietary Risk Factors for Head and Neck Cancer in Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial Participants.

Importance: There is a paucity of large-scale prospective studies evaluating the risk of developing head and neck cancer (HNC) associated with smoking, drinking, and dietary habits.

Objective: To determine the association of smoking, drinking, and dietary habits with the risk of developing HNC.

Design, Setting, And Participants: A nested cohort survival analysis of Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial participants was performed.

Implications of Preoperative Depression for Lumbar Spine Surgery Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Importance: Comorbid depression is common among patients with degenerative lumbar spine disease. Although a well-researched topic, the evidence of the role of depression in spine surgery outcomes remains inconclusive.

Objective: To investigate the association between preoperative depression and patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) after lumbar spine surgery.

Validation of a Novel Allergy-Specific Domain for the 22-Item Sino-Nasal Outcomes Test.

Objectives: To develop and assess the validity of a novel allergy-specific domain for the 22-item sino-nasal outcomes test (SNOT-22), to provide a new tool that efficiently quantifies the impact of allergic rhinitis (AR) concurrent with chronic rhinosinusitis.

Study Design: Prospective validation study.

Setting: Tertiary care hospital and community-based clinic.

Validation of Minimal Clinically Important Difference (MCID) for University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT).

Background: The University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test is widely used to measure change in olfactory function, but a minimal clinically important difference (MCID) has not been well-established. A study published in 1997 regarding patients with head trauma reported an MCID of 4 but did not detail the methods used in the calculation.

Objective: To validate the MCID for UPSIT in patients with postviral, sinusitis, and procedure-associated olfactory loss.

Stellate Ganglion Block for the Treatment of COVID-19-Induced Olfactory Dysfunction: A Prospective Pilot Study.

Objective: The objective of this study was to explore the safety and feasibility of stellate ganglion blocks (SGBs) to treat persistent COVID-19-induced olfactory dysfunction (OD). Secondarily, the goal was to determine effect sizes to plan a future randomized clinical trial.

Study Design: Prospective case series.

Efficacy of Gabapentin For Post-COVID-19 Olfactory Dysfunction: The GRACE Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: The COVID-19 pandemic affected millions of people and has become a dominant etiology of olfactory dysfunction (OD). No interventions with definitive clinical utility exist. Gabapentin represents a potential therapy for COVID-19-induced OD.

Preexisting tumor-resident T cells with cytotoxic potential associate with response to neoadjuvant anti-PD-1 in head and neck cancer.

About 50% of patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) experience recurrences after definitive therapy. The presurgical administration of anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) immunotherapy results in substantial pathologic tumor responses (pTR) within the tumor microenvironment (TME). However, the mechanisms underlying the dynamics of antitumor T cells upon neoadjuvant PD-1 blockade remain unresolved, and approaches to increase pathologic responses are lacking.

Development and Validation of the Parosmia Olfactory Dysfunction Outcomes Rating (DisODOR).

Objective: Develop and validate a quality-of-life (QoL) outcome measure for patients with dysosmia.

Study Design: Cross-sectional survey study.

Setting: Otolaryngology clinics, research registries, and Facebook support groups.

Identifying Predictors of Treatment Response in Meniere's Disease: A Clinical Severity Staging System.

Objective: Identify clinically important factors associated with conservative treatment response in Meniere's disease and incorporate these factors into a composite clinical severity staging system.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort.

Setting: Tertiary academic medical center.

Acceptability of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Tinnitus: A Study With Veterans and Nonveterans.

Purpose: Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a gold standard yet underutilized treatment for tinnitus, and tinnitus is especially highly prevalent among veterans. The aims of this study were twofold: to determine (a) if CBT for tinnitus is underutilized because participants find it less acceptable than other behavioral treatments for tinnitus and (b) if veterans and nonveterans rate behavioral treatments for tinnitus differently.

Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted online with a sample of 277 adults in the United States who self-reported at least some level of bothersome tinnitus in the past week.

Optimization of diagnostic and procedural codes to identify patients with acute invasive fungal sinusitis.

Acute invasive fungal sinusitis (IFS) is a rare disease with high mortality There is no designated International Classification of Diseases code for IFS We propose a novel method to identify IFS using optimized codes complemented by medications.

Acute Taste Dysfunction in Oropharyngeal Cancer Patients after Transoral Robotic Surgery.

Objectives: To compare taste changes after transoral robotic surgery (TORS) to taste changes in healthy controls.

Methods: Oropharyngeal cancer patients receiving TORS and healthy controls were recruited. Participants underwent posterolateral and whole-mouth psychophysical taste testing (identification, intensity, and hedonics) at baseline and at 2 weeks postoperatively (patients) or follow-up (controls).