Biomedical subjects

Q Gardiner

Publications and source records attributed to Q Gardiner.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Carotid stenting for impending carotid blowout: suitable supportive care for head and neck cancer patients?

BACKGROUND: Carotid blowout (CB) represents a dramatic end-of-life situation for palliative head and neck cancer patients, their relatives and caregivers. Recently, endovascular therapy has been proposed for head and neck surgical patients. Preliminary reports showed a better outcome with less morbidity compared to the previous treatment modalities. However, the specific use of such techniques for palliative head and neck cancer patients has not been previously described. METHOD: Retrospective review of two cases of head and neck cancer patients receiving palliative care, presenting with a CB, managed with endovascular stent placement. RESULTS: Bleeding was effectively stopped by the procedure in both cases. Both patients developed a post-procedure thromboembolism, which was immediately treated by appropriate anticoagulation therapy. Neurological symptoms resolved within 24 hours allowing rapid hospital discharge. One patient died at home seven months later. The second patient is alive five months after the procedure. No recurrence of CB occurred in either patient. CONCLUSIONS: Endovascular stent placement for CB allows a rapid arrest of bleeding and permits the use of anticoagulation therapy in order to avoid long-term neurological injury. In our view, carotid stenting should be considered as valid supportive care for palliative head and neck patients presenting with a CB.

Carcinoma, Squamous Cell↗

PubMed2003

Malignant B cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the larynx in children with Wiskott Aldrich syndrome.

A 15 years old male with a primary diagnosis of Wiskott Aldrich syndrome presented a laryngeal B cell lymphoma associated with Epstein-Barr virus. A chemotherapy and a radiotherapy were started in association with an endoscopic debulking of the tumor. The child died of respiratory failure secondary to a lung infection. The incidence of NHL (non-Hodgkin's lymphoma) of laryngeal origin in infants is extremely low and to our knowledge it has never been found in Wiskott Aldrich syndrome.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

Endoscopic surgical treatment of sinonasal polyposis-medium term outcomes (mean follow-up of 5 years).

BACKGROUND: Between 30 and 50% of patients with sinonasal polyposis (SNP) will require surgical treatment. OBJECTIVE: To determine the medium term risks and benefits of endonasal ethmoidectomy in SNP. METHOD: 132 cases of SNP have been retrospectively studied before and after endoscopic nasal surgery with a mean follow-up of 5 years. Functional symptoms and appearances on endoscopic examination were recorded on graded scales. Non-parametric statistical analyses for matched series were used in the assessment of data. RESULTS: Post-operative normalisation of nasal function was obtained in 62% of cases. Each of the four main nasal symptoms (nasal obstruction, rhinorrhoea, facial pain and anosmia) was improved (p = 0.001). Patients with associated asthma or ASA triad had higher scores for nasal obstruction and rhinorrhoea (Fisher's exact test; p < 0.02). The pre-operative clinical stage of SNP correlated neither with recurrence nor with functional outcomes (Fisher's exact test; p > 0.05). The requirement for steroid treatment of concurrent asthma was also reduced post-operatively (p = 0.001). The association with asthma and its level of treatment was not related to the frequency of recurrence of SNP (Chi2; p > 0.6). CONCLUSIONS: Functional outcomes for patients with SNP and asthma were significantly improved by endoscopic surgical treatment, even if the appearance of the nasal mucosa did not always return to normal.

Asthma↗

PubMed2002

A randomized control trial of post-operative care following endoscopic sinus surgery: debridement versus no debridement.

Endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) has undergone exponential growth worldwide in the last decade. It is now accepted as a safe and effective means of treating sinonasal disease. The purpose of this study was to determine whether post-operative debridement is necessary after ESS. Seventeen patients undergoing bilateral primary ESS were randomized to receive debridement of either the left or right ethmoid cavity. All patients included in the study had symmetrical disease. Saline douches and all other concomitant treatments were delivered bilaterally. Outcome measures were based on regular symptom scores and surgeons' semi-quantitative assessment of the debrided and non-debrided cavities, over a three-month period. Analysis of adhesion rates, healing and symptom scores showed no statistically significant difference between the two groups. In conclusion, this study did not demonstrate significant benefit from post-operative ESS cavity debridement, at least with regard to cavity healing. This should be considered a pilot study and therefore limited conclusions can be drawn. Further work is needed to determine the optimum post-operative care for ESS.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2002

Factors that inform the career choice of medical students: implications for otolaryngology.

Knowledge of the factors that inform the career choice of medical students may help plan the workforce for medical specialties. To determine which factors inform the career choice of medical students we carried out a survey of medical students at the start of their educational block in Otolaryngology. Of 202 questionnaires handed out 169 were returned (84 per cent). Students were asked to rank factors according to their importance in their career choice. The single most important factor was career progression. Other factors include on-call commitment, teachers as role models, and the interest for a particular subject. At the present time progression from senior house officer grade to specialist registrar grade in Otolaryngology is delayed. If this issue is not addressed the influx of applicants into Otolaryngology training programmes will be reduced, limiting the pool from which candidates can be chosen for a career in Otolaryngology.

Career Choice↗

PubMed2001

Effects of topical corticosteroid and combined mediator blockade on domiciliary and laboratory measurements of nasal function in seasonal allergic rhinitis.

BACKGROUND: Both domiciliary and laboratory measures of nasal function have been used to evaluate treatment response in allergic airways disease; however, these measures have not been compared. OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship of domiciliary measures (daily symptoms, peak inspiratory nasal flow, and nasal oral index) and laboratory measures (rhinomanometry, acoustic rhinometry) in assessing treatment response with topical steroids and specific inflammatory mediator blockage. METHODS: Twenty-one patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis and asthma were enrolled into a single-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study comparing 2 weeks of 1) 400 microg inhaled plus 200 microg intranasal budesonide once daily and 2) 10 mg montelukast plus 10 mg cetirizine once daily. Before each treatment, patients received 7 to 10 days of placebo period. Laboratory measurements were made of nasal resistance by posterior rhinomanometry, and nasal volume between 0 and 5 cm by acoustic rhinometry after both placebo and active treatment periods. Daily domiciliary recordings were made of allergic rhinitis nasal symptoms scores and peak nasal and oral inspiratory flow rate (enabling the calculation of a nasal/oral index) throughout the study. RESULTS: There were significant (P < 0.05) improvements for all allergic rhinitis symptoms with both therapies, after factoring for pollen count. Spearman's rank correlation for comparison among nasal symptoms and the objective responses were: nasal inspiratory flow rate (R = -0.50, P = 0.02); nasal/oral index (R = -0.55 P = 0.01); rhinomanometry (R = 0.24, P = 0.30); and acoustic rhinometry (R = -0.21, P = 0.36). CONCLUSIONS: Both treatments were effective in managing allergic rhinitis symptoms, and patients' symptoms were more closely associated with domiciliary measurements of nasal flow than laboratory measurements of nasal function.

Acetates↗

PubMed2001

Evaluation of the importance of head and probe stabilisation in acoustic rhinometry.

As yet there is no established procedure to ensure the repeatability of acoustic rhinometry measurements although anecdotal evidence suggests that instrument fixation improves repeatability. The aim of this study is to validate the methodology of acoustic rhinometry and determine whether instrument fixation and head stabilisation is necessary. Four methods were compared in fifteen healthy volunteers, after nasal decongestion: A) Patient holding the probe (patient-held), B) Probe fixed in a probe stand (probe-stand), C) Probe fixed in stand and head stabilised in head rest (head-rest), D) Examiner holding the probe (examiner-performed). The two minimum cross-sectional areas and volume between 0 and 5 cm were recorded. The examiner-performed and probe-stand methods were consistently less variable than the other methods. With examiner-performed method, this was significant (p < 0.05) versus head-rest and patient-held methods for both measures of minimum cross-sectional area. For nasal volume the examiner-performed method was significantly (p < 0.05) less variable than the head-rest method. In conclusion, examiner-performed acoustic rhinometry is more repeatable than combined head stabilisation and instrument fixation and therefore the use of a head-rest may be unnecessary. Instrument fixation or examiner performed test is also preferable to allowing the patient to position the probe. The repeatability of the probe-stand method was similar to the examiner-performed method.

Adult↗

PubMed2001

Effects of leukotriene receptor antagonist therapy in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis in a real life rhinology clinic setting.

Although there is evidence from randomised controlled trials that leukotriene receptor antagonists are efficacious in chronic rhinosinusitis there are still little data on their use in everyday real life clinical practice. We report on a pragmatic case series of 32 patients referred from primary care with uncontrolled chronic rhinosinusitis (allergic or non-allergic) who have been treated with montelukast in our joint medical/surgical rhinology clinic. Patients' symptoms were scored according to "facial pain", "headache", "nasal blockage", "nasal discharge", "sense of smell" and "daily activity", and measurements of peak inspiratory nasal flow were made, before and after the introduction of montelukast 10 mg/day. There were significant (p < 0.05) improvements in subjective scoring for headache, nasal discharge & blockage, sense of smell and daily activity but not for facial pain, when montelukast was added along with other alterations in chronic rhinosinusitis medication (all receiving intra-nasal corticosteroids). Subgroup analysis of 10 patients, were the addition of montelukast was the only change to medical therapy, showed significant (p < 0.05) improvements in headache, nasal discharge and blockage and their daily activity. There was no significant improvements in nasal peak inspiratory flow or spirometry. In conclusion, montelukast may be a useful therapeutic option in addition to standard therapy (i.e. intra-nasal corticosteroids or anti-histamines) when treating patients with chronic rhinosinusitis in a real life clinical setting.

Acetates↗

PubMed2000

A randomised controlled trial of the effect of regional nerve blocks on immediate post-tonsillectomy pain in adult patients.

Post-operative pain is the main cause of morbidity following tonsillectomy. The efficacy of glossopharyngeal and lesser palatine nerve blocks in controlling postoperative pain in adult patients was investigated prospectively. Patients 16 years and older admitted for elective tonsillectomy were randomised to one of three groups to receive a pre-incisional oropharyngeal injection of 0.5% bupivicaine, a 'dummy' injection of saline or no injection. Dissection tonsillectomy and general anaesthetic techniques were standardized. Postoperative pain was monitored for 24 h. ANOVA, chi2 and Fisher's exact test were used for intergroup comparisons. Ninety-two patients (72 women and 20 men), mean age 22 years were studied. Twenty-nine patients received 0.5% bupivicaine, 30 saline and 33 no pre-incisional injection. The overall mean pain scores of 2.1, 1.9 and 1.9 in the bupivicaine, saline and no injection groups were similar. Glossopharyngeal and lesser palatine 0.5% bupivicaine nerve blocks are not effective in reducing early post-tonsillectomy pain.

Adult↗

PubMed1999

Modified subtotal laryngectomy with cricohyoidoepiglottopexy--long term results in 81 patients.

BACKGROUND: Standard treatment of early glottic carcinoma is radiotherapy, but involvement of the anterior commissure leads to a reduced cure rate. We investigated retrospectively whether our modified subtotal laryngectomy had improved results for early glottic carcinomas involving the anterior commissure, without causing excessive disability to laryngeal functions. METHODS: Eighty-one patients with T1 or T2 glottic carcinoma involving the anterior commissure were reviewed. Follow-up was at least 3 years. Speech was assessed by subjective evaluation and a computer-assisted voice analysis device. RESULTS: Three-year overall survival rate and 3- and 5-year actuarial survival rates were, respectively, 90.1%, 95%, and 90.8%, with no difference between the different T stages involved (p > 0.46). The local recurrence rate was 7.4%. Speech recovered in all patients and was evaluated as satisfactory in 86% of cases. CONCLUSION: For early glottic carcinomas involving the anterior commissure, subtotal laryngectomies appear to be more effective than radiotherapy, and our modified technique simplifies the procedure.

Adult↗

PubMed1999

[Pleomorphic adenoma of the nasal septum: a case report].

We report on a case of pleomorphic adenoma involving the nasal septum, in a caucasian woman aged 23, who presented with nasal obstruction and epistaxis. A swelling of the anterior part of the nasal septum was observed and a biopsy demonstrated the existence of a pleomorphic adenoma. CT scan and MRI investigation showed the lesion to be limited, and removal was therefore possible using an endonasal approach. No recurrence has been found after 22 months.

Adenoma, Pleomorphic↗

PubMed1998

Adenovirus-mediated in vivo gene transfer in guinea pig middle ear mucosa.

This article describes a study designed to assess the feasibility of using recombinant adenovirus for delivering therapeutic peptides in vivo in the guinea pig middle ear cleft. A recombinant adenoviral vector AdCMVsp1 LacZ containing the Escherichia coli beta-galactosidase was injected into the middle ear space. Qualitative assessment of cell middle ear transfection was performed on day 2 by light microscopy study, after injecting a multiplicity of infection (MOI) ranging from 0 to 1000. At an MOI of 30, 30% of the promontory area epithelial cells were stained. An MOI of 50 stained 60% of the cells and an MOI of 100 or more stained more than 90% of the cells. The duration of cell transfection was studied after injecting an MOI of 50. The percentage of stained cells was 60% on day 2, 10% on day 7, and 0% on day 14. Middle ear mucosal inflammation, consisting of a granulocytic infiltrate, was observed when an MOI above 50 was used. Even at a high MOI (500), no staining could be found in the cochlea, in the facial nerve, in the brain, or in visceral organs. These data suggest that recombinant adenovirus vectors can be used to transfer genes in the middle ear. This method appears to be safe, and may be envisaged as a short-duration treatment to transfer genes in vivo in the treatment of middle ear diseases.

Adenoviridae↗

PubMed1998

Technique training: endoscopic percutaneous tracheostomy.

Percutaneous tracheostomy is being used increasingly in the intensive care unit and endoscopic control of this procedure affords an improved level of safety. Training in such new minimal access techniques can be a significant risk factor in patient outcome. Surgical simulation provides training which minimizes this risk. We present a method of training in percutaneous endoscopic tracheostomy using a simulation model based on animal tissue. Our experience with this model is reported.

Animals↗

PubMed1998

Maxillary sinus mucocoeles--10 cases--8 treated endoscopically.

Maxillary sinus mucocoeles are rare, but may cause significant problems outside the sinus including diplopia and cheek swelling. We present 9 patients suffering from maxillary sinus mucocoele, including one patient with bilateral involvement, representing 10 involved sinuses. Eight sinuses were treated endoscopically and followed-up for 3 to more than 6 years; one of these developed a recurrence. Two sinuses were treated using a classical external approach (Caldwell-Luc), one at the beginning of our series, and one as the endoscopic technique was difficult to perform due to loss of anatomical landmarks. One of these two sinuses developed a recurrence and was then successfully treated endoscopically. We discuss the aetiology, pathogenesis and appropriate treatment of this unusual condition. Endoscopic treatment appears to be effective and leads to minimal recurrence. The aim is to perform a wide removal of the medial wall of the maxillary sinus including most of the inferior turbinate, immediately posterior to the lachrymal duct leaving intact the sinus mucosa. In some cases, however, the endoscopic technique can be difficult to perform due to loss of essential anatomical landmarks and in these cases recourse to an external approach may be necessary.

Adult↗

PubMed1997

The naso-oral index: a more valid measure than peak flow rate?

Using a modified respiratory spirometer, we set out to determine whether the nasal peak flow rate, or a new parameter the naso-oral 1 second index (the ratio between the nasal forced inspiratory '1 second' volume and the oral forced inspiratory '1 second' volume) correlated with anterior rhinomanometry and visual analogue scores. Ten patients undergoing nasal surgery for nasal obstruction were recruited into the study. The naso-oral 1 second index consistently correlated better than the nasal peak flow rate with anterior rhinomanometry. The naso-oral index also correlated better than nasal peak flow with visual analogue scores. Correlation was best demonstrated when assessing the benefit gained by patients from surgery. The naso-oral index is a potentially useful clinical parameter, and correlates acceptably well both with visual analogue scores and anterior rhinomanometry.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1997

Comparison of direct monocular endoscopic, two- and three-dimensional display systems on surgical task performance in functional endoscopic sinus surgery.

Surgeons performing functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) traditionally rely on direct endoscopic viewing through a single monocular Hopkins rod lens telescope. While the majority of surgeons have found this satisfactory, most other endoscopic surgical specialties have moved to 2-D video endoscopy, where a monoscopic image is presented on a television monitor. This study set out to determine whether 2-D or 3-D display systems had any advantage over direct endoscopy in FESS. Ten otolaryngology trainees performed a series of standardized procedures on a FESS model using direct endoscopic vision, 2-D and 3-D. A performance score was obtained by dividing the execution time by the number of tasks achieved. There was a significant difference in both surgical and diagnostic task performance with 2-D (mean scores 56.8 and 41.1) performing better than direct endoscopy (mean scores 94.1 and 74.1) (P < 0.05). Tasks were also performed significantly better with 3-D compared with 2-D (P < 0.05).

Endoscopy↗

PubMed1996

Day-stay myringoplasty.

Grafting of the tympanic membrane (myringoplasty) has traditionally been performed as an in-patient procedure in the UK. We have performed day-stay myringoplasty on 21 consecutive patients (15 adults and six children) under general anaesthesia using an underlay temporalis fascia graft. In 18 cases there was complete healing of the tympanic membrane and in three cases the patients developed perforations at four weeks. This success rate is consistent with previously reported studies. All patients were discharged on the day of admission with no major complications. We have compared the results with a group of patients having the same operation as an in-patient and have concluded that day-stay myringoplasty under general anaesthesia is as safe and effective as in-patient surgery for the majority of patients.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1996

An animal model for training in endoscopic nasal and sinus surgery.

An animal model has been devised to allow trainees in nasal and sinus endoscopy to develop basic instrument handling and psychomotor skills, without risk to patients. The sheep's head obtained from the abattoir was modified slightly to simulate more closely the human situation. The model permits nasendoscopy, foreign body removal, septoplasty, turbinate reduction, frontal and maxillary sinoscopy, antrostomy and an epistaxis exercise. To date the tissues have been used freshly thawed, and must be used on the day of preparation.

Animals↗