COVID-19 Pandemic-Frontline Experiences and Lessons Learned From a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital at a Suburban Location of Southeastern India.

The key challenges to any health care setup during emergency situations, such as that of the COVID-19 pandemic would be to rapidly address hospital preparedness and response tailored to the local population, societal influences, political factors within the existing infrastructure, and workforce. Second, to adopt and moderate policies, standard operating procedures (SOPs) and guidelines issued by national and international agencies, such as WHO, CDC, and the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) were tailor-made to the local conditions of the hospital and community. In this publication, we have discussed the challenges and experiences in preparation and responses to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic at a tertiary teaching hospital situated at a suburban locale in a small union territory.

Effect of Mastoid Drilling on Hearing of the Contralateral Normal Ear in Mastoidectomy.

To evaluate hearing of the contralateral normal ear before and after mastoidectomy in a longitudinal manner and to assess whether the hearing loss is transient or permanent and to find out the duration of temporary hearing loss. This was a clinical longitudinal observational study involving 50 patients with unilateral chronic suppurative otitis media requiring mastoidectomy operation over a period of 18 months after satisfying the inclusion criteria. During the part of the mastoidectomy surgery involving drilling of the mastoid bone, noise levels were recorded at multiple points in the surgery using a digital sound level meter.

A common tumor in an uncommon location: Lipoma of the palate.

Lipomas are benign mesenchymal neoplasms that originate in mature adipose cells. Although rare in the oral cavity, they are mostly seen in the buccal mucosa, tongue, and gingiva; those arising from the palate are very rare. We report a case of a 42-year-old male patient with a large intraoral swelling that on excision was reported as a lipoma.

Long-Term Complications of Button Batteries in the Nose.

Background: One of the common emergencies presenting to the emergency department is a child who has inserted a foreign body into their nose. Of the various things that children insert accidently, the most dangerous are button batteries.

Case Report: We followed up 11 cases of children with history of button battery insertion in the nose for 1 year.