Assessment of nasal obstruction with rhinomanometry and subjective scales and outcomes of surgical and medical treatment.

Introduction: Prospective study of patients with nasal obstruction (NO) in order to measure therapeutic success by anterior active rhinomanometry (AAR), Nasal Obstruction Symptom Evaluation (NOSE) scale and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and to establish the correlation between these tests.

Methods: Patients with NO, on whom we performed an AAR, NOSE and VAS scales at baseline and after medical treatment (topical nasal steroid) or surgery (septoplasty, turbinoplasty or septoplasty and turbinoplasty). The nasal flow obtained by the AAR and the score of both subjective scales (NOSE and VAS) were compared and analyzed.

Design and experimental analysis of a new malleovestibulopexy prosthesis using a finite element model of the human middle ear.

Introduction And Objective: Many designs of prostheses are available for middle ear surgery. In this study we propose a design for a new prosthesis, which optimises mechanical performance in the human middle ear and improves some deficiencies in the prostheses currently available. Our objective was to design and assess the theoretical acoustic-mechanical behaviour of this new total ossicular replacement prosthesis.

[Zuckerkandl's tubercle. Location, shape and dimensions].

Introduction And Objective: Although Zuckerkandl's tubercle is not known by many head and neck surgeons, it is a fundamental surgical anatomical detail, already described in the nineteenth century. Its detection is of great importance as the reference in the search for the recurrent nerve and superior parathyroid gland.

Material And Method: We designed a prospective study to analyse the posterolateral border of thyroid lobes, looking for this tubercle.

[The avian middle ear (Struthio camelus). Data for the physiology of sound transmission in systems with a single ossicle in the chain].

Introduction And Goals: The columella of birds, often cited in the literature, has yet to be adequately described. We aim to give an account of this transmission element, describing its anchoring systems and detailing the muscle associated to it.

Material And Method: We performed microscopic dissection and obtained images of ostrich specimens (Struthio camelus), chosen because it is the bird with the largest head.