Optokinetic After-Nystagmus: A Marker for Migraine? A Prospective Observational Study.

Introduction: Vestibular migraine (VM), particularly its chronic variant, poses a diagnostic challenge. Patients suffering from VM may not have the characteristic headaches associated with the dizziness. In these cases, a marker for migraine pathology in general could help appropriately diagnose certain types of dizziness as migrainous despite these patients not meeting current diagnostic criteria for VM.

Otology/Neurotology recommendations - Choosing Wisely campaign.

The Choosing Wisely Canada Campaign aims to raise awareness amongst physicians and patients regarding unnecessary tests and treatment. The otology/neurotology subspecialty group within the Canadian Society of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Society developed a list of five common otologic presentations to help physicians deliver high quality effective care: (1) Don't order specialized audiometric and vestibular testing to screen for peripheral vestibular disease, (2) Don't perform computed tomography or blood work in the evaluation of sudden sensorineural hearing loss, (3) Don't perform auditory brain responses (ABR) in patients with asymmetrical hearing loss, (4) Don't prescribe oral antibiotics as first line treatment for patients with painless otorrhea associated with tympanic membrane perforation or tympanostomy tube, and (5) Don't perform particle repositioning maneuvers without a clinical diagnosis of posterior canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.

Auditory effects of autologous fat graft for TORP stabilization in the middle ear: a cadaveric study.

Background: Total ossicular replacement prostheses (TORP) are often used to re-establish ossicular coupling of sound in an ear lacking a stapes supra-structure. The use of TORPs, however, is associated with a 2/3 five year failure rate due to their anatomic instability over time in the middle ear. The use of autologous fat to try and stabilize TORPs may improve long-term results with this challenging ossicular reconstruction technique.

Is Hospitalization Necessary after Ear Surgery? A National Survey and Retrospective Review of Postoperative Events.

Objective First, to survey our national otolaryngology colleagues on their postoperative care habits (hospitalization vs day surgery) after elective middle ear surgery. Second, to evaluate the necessity of hospitalization and safety of day surgery after these procedures. Methods A national survey regarding postoperative habits after elective middle ear surgery was launched.

Symptom Resolution Rates of Posttraumatic versus Nontraumatic Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo: A Systematic Review.

Objective: To determine the rate of symptom resolution in patients with posttraumatic benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) and to determine if it differs from resolution rates in patients with BPPV and without a history of head trauma.

Data Sources: Systematic review of the literature was performed using Medline, EMBASE, and Cochrane databases. English and French articles meeting inclusion criteria and published between 1946 and October 2014 were included.

Vocalization-induced stapedius contraction.

Objective: To present a case of a patient with visible stapedius contraction on vocalization and to discuss the related literature.

Patients: A 51 year-old woman with a Type III myringostapediopexy due to chronic suppurative otitis media and an incidental finding of voice-induced movement of the stapes head.

Interventions: Otoendoscopy, pure tone and impedance audiometry, and modified stapedius reflex decay.

Voluntary eardrum movement: a marker for tensor tympani contraction?

Hypothesis: Voluntary eardrum movement (VEM) and resultant tympanometric changes reflect tensor tympani (TT) contraction.

Background: TT contraction has been hypothesized to cause symptoms of aural fullness, tinnitus, clicking, and even vertigo despite the lack of understanding of how it functions or what causes it to contract. Identifying tympanometric changes unique to TT contraction can provide a diagnostic tool for identifying its role in pathologic conditions.

Insights into horizontal canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo from a human case report.

For horizontal canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, determination of the pathologic side is difficult and based on many physiological assumptions. This article reports findings on a patient who had one dysfunctional inner ear and who presented with horizontal canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, giving us a relatively pure model for observing nystagmus arising in a subject in whom the affected side is known a priori. It is an interesting human model corroborating theories of nystagmus generation in this pathology and also serves to validate Ewald's second law in a living human subject.

Otologic safety of manuka honey.

Objective: To investigate the possible ototoxic effects of a 50% concentration of manuka honey in a chinchilla animal model.

Study Design: A prospective, controlled animal study.

Setting: The Research Institute of the Montreal Children's Hospital, McGill University Health Centre.

Vocal cord adduction causing obstructive sleep apnea from vagal nerve stimulation: case report.

A recognized complication of vagal nerve stimulation is new or worsening sleep apnea. Its pathophysiology is not clearly understood. We report a patient with obstructive sleep apnea that was directly associated with vagal nerve stimulation causing recurring vocal cord adduction.

Ablative free thyroxine to thyroglobulin ratio as a predictor of differentiated thyroid cancer recurrence.

Background: Serum thyroglobulin (Tg), a widely used thyroid cancer marker, is limited at the time of ablation, unable to differentiate between diseased and normal residual tissue.

Objective: We evaluated the use of the ablation free thyroxine to thyroglobulin ratio (fT4:Tg) as a tumour-specific ratio for predicting persistence or recurrence in differentiated thyroid cancer.

Design: Retrospective chart review.