Guidelines of the French Society of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (SFORL) and the French Society of Audiology (SFA) for Speech-in-Noise Testing in Adults.

Objectives: This document presents the fundamentals of speech audiometry in noise, general requirements for implementation and criteria for choice among the tests available in French according to the health-professional's needs.

Material And Methods: The recommendations are based on a systematic analysis of the literature carried out by a multidisciplinary group of doctors, audiologists and audioprosthetists from all over France. They are graded A, B, C or expert opinion according to decreasing level of scientific evidence.

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.

[Tibial plateau fracture--biodegradable bonecement-augmentation].

Between October 1996 and January 1999,29 patients (f:16,m:13,age: 22-86) with fractures of the lateral tibial plateau were operated on arthroscopic,fluoroscopic control or were treated with open reduction and internal fixation. 15 of them were retrospective and 14 prospective analysed. The metaphyseal defect after elevation of the depressed fragment was augmented in 11 cases with autologous spongeous bone grafting,in 9 cases with biodegradable bone cement (Norian SRS).

[Thoracolumbar spine fractures after conservative and surgical treatment. Dependence of correction loss on fracture level].

Question: This retrospective study presents results after conservative and operative treatment of thoracolumbar fractures as function of its localization.

Methodology: In 2 years 70 patients with A1/A2 fracture were conservatively treated, 38 patients with A3/B/C injury were treated by internal fixtor. For evaluation 3 vertebral sections(Th5-10,Th11-L2,L3-5)were defined.