Cost-effective management of pharyngocutaneous fistulas following laryngectomy.

A pharyngocutaneous fistula following a total laryngectomy is not an uncommon occurrence. The incidence of this serious complication ranges worldwide from 7.6 percent to 50 percent.

Electromyographic biofeedback training with patients exhibiting a hyperfunctional voice disorder.

Baseline EMG measures of general laryngeal area muscle tension while speaking and during silence were taken from a group of 21 normal subjects and 7 subjects diagnosed through indirect laryngoscopy as having vocal nodules. In an attempt to reduce their baseline scores, the vocal nodule patients underwent 8 EMG biofeedback training sessions followed by a 2-week follow-up session. Sophisticated listeners then judged the qualities of the voices produced during the base-line and follow-up sessions.

Why not the eighth nerve? Neurovascular compression--probable cause for pulsatile tinnitus.

Carotid arteriograms on three patients with unilateral pulsatile tinnitus demonstrated an ipsilateral atypical trigeminal artery extending from the cavernous portion of the internal carotid artery to form the posterior inferior cerebellar artery. Illustrations and a dissection of a human fetus with a similar finding show this artery crossing the cochlear nerve near its insertion in the pons. Evidence is presented suggesting that neurovascular compression of the eighth nerve is the source of pulsatile tinnitus in these patients.