Contemporary changes with the use of facial nerve monitoring in chronic ear surgery.

Objective: There is a growing trend for the routine use of the facial nerve monitor (FNM) in chronic ear surgery. We aimed to examine current patterns in the use of FNMs in chronic ear surgery.

Study Design: Descriptive design (survey).

Avoiding secondary skin graft donor site morbidity in the fibula free flap harvest.

Objective: To compare donor site morbidity in patients who have undergone fibula free flap reconstruction in which the skin graft was taken from the expected cutaneous paddle of the fibula with the known complications of the popular technique of obtaining a split-thickness skin graft (STSG) from a secondary donor site.

Design: Cohort study.

Setting: The tertiary care centers at Loma Linda University Medical Center and University of California, Los Angeles, Medical Center.

Pediatric neck abscesses: changing organisms and empiric therapies.

Objective: To examine the causative organisms in pediatric neck infections, delineate risk factors in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) pediatric neck infections, and define patient populations that should be empirically treated with MRSA sensitive antibiotics.

Study Design: Retrospective chart review.

Methods: Two hundred twenty-eight consecutive patients were reviewed, ages 0 to 17, presenting at a tertiary care center between 1999 and 2007 with computed tomography proven neck abscesses.