Establishment of national diagnostic reference levels in dental cone beam computed tomography in Switzerland.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to establish diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) in the field of dental maxillofacial and ear-nose-throat (ENT) practices using cone beam CT (CBCT) in Switzerland.

Methods: A questionnaire was sent to owners of CBCTs in Switzerland; to a total of 612 institutions. The answers were analyzed for each indication, provided that enough data were available.

The body dysmorphic disorder patient: to perform rhinoplasty or not?

By virtue of being a (primarily) aesthetic rather than a functional procedure, rhinoplasty is unique among rhinological operations. As such, it raises moral, philosophical and social issues that no other procedure does. The preoperative assessment of a rhinoplasty patient includes a number of considerations that are unique in this type of surgery; during the outpatient consultation, the patient's motivation for surgery, stability and overall psychological evaluation, with a special emphasis on body dysmorphic disorder, have to be taken into consideration.

Cholesteatoma surgery in children: long-term results of the inside-out technique.

Objective: To present the anatomical and functional results of the inside-out technique applied in pediatric cholestetaoma surgery and to evaluate functionality with good hearing results against radicality with lower recurrence rate.

Methods: Retrospective analysis and evaluation of the postoperative outcome in a consecutive series of 126 children or 130 ears operated between 1992 and 2008. With the inside-out technique, cholesteatoma is eradicated from the epitympanum toward the mastoid and, as a single stage procedure, functional reconstruction of the middle ear is achieved by tympanoossiculoplasty.

Therapy options and long-term results of sinonasal malignancies.

Objectives: Nasal and paranasal sinus malignancies are rare. The most common lesions are located in the nasal cavity and the maxillary sinus, although they also occur in the ethmoid, sphenoid and frontal sinuses. Treatment often combines surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Primary tumors of the submandibular glands: a retrospective study based on 41 cases.

We report our experience on the diagnostic approach, treatment, and follow-up of primary submandibular gland tumors. Retrospective review. Tertiary referral center.

Cholesterol granuloma of the petrous apex: benefit of computer-aided surgery.

The following is an analysis of the role of computer aided surgery by infralabyrinthine-subcochlear approach to the petrous apex for cholesterol granulomas with hearing preservation. In a retrospective case review from 1996 to 2008 six patients were analysed in our tertiary referral centre, otorhinolaryngology outpatient clinic. Excellent intraoperative localisation of the carotid artery, facial nerve and the entrance into the cholesterol cyst of the bone by means of the navigation system was seen.