May 5th, 2011 by ChristopherChangMD in Health Tips
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Eustachian tube dysfunction is a phenomenon whereby a person is unable to pop their ears to relieve symptoms of ear pressure, clogging, or fullness. It is much akin to the ear pressure a person experiences when flying, but at ground level. Traditionally, treatment of this condition involved medications like steroid nasal sprays and prednisone along with active valsalva. Once medical treatment has failed, ear tube placement has been the step of last resort.
However, a promising new treatment called eustachian tube balloon dilation has been described in March 2011 to address eustachian tube dysfunction at the source surgically rather than indirectly with tube placement across the eardrum. In essence, a balloon is inserted into the eustachian tube and than inflated thereby opening it up (the balloon is “popping” the ear for you). The balloon is than deflated and removed. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Fauquier ENT Blog*
April 30th, 2011 by DavedeBronkart in True Stories
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Two years ago we wrote “Let’s hear it for the ‘d-patients’” — doctors who become e-patients themselves. We said “D-patients prove that patient empowerment is anything but anti-doctor. Heck, sometimes it’s a doctor preservation movement.”
A new article in our Journal of Participatory Medicine provides a compelling example: A Physician’s Experience as a Cancer of the Neck Patient: The Importance of Patient Participation. The author, Itzhak Brook MD, makes our point:
I am telling my personal story in the hope that health care providers will realize the difficult challenges faced by a patient diagnosed with cancer and undergoing extensive surgeries. I am also discussing the importance of active participation of the patient and their family members in all phases of care.
JoPM co-editor Charlie Smith adds, in his introductory note: (emphasis added)
You may wonder why a physician’s account of his illness and the frustrations he experienced merit publication in this journal. But, if a doctor has this degree of anxiety, this much difficulty getting information about his care and this degree of struggle making good decisions, then patients can easily understand why they feel so overwhelmed and incapable, at times, of truly “participating” in their own care. What we are advocating for is difficult in the best of circumstances and requires all hands on deck for the task! Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at e-Patients.net*
April 26th, 2011 by ChristopherChangMD in Opinion
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I read with interest a blog post by Robert Krulwich of NPR fame on why there is so much public resistance to accept changes in truth with new scientific discoveries (some of which was new to even me)…
1) Triceratops with their beautifully placed 3 horns is actually the teenage dinosaur version of the adult Torosaurus (who had ugly asymmetric horns). Now… a decision had to be made regarding which name to stick with. Ultimately, “Triceratops” won out, perhaps because of the “Save the Triceratops” Facebook page???
2) The same unfortunately is not true for the Brontosaurus. It was clear that Apatosaurus is the same dinosaur and as such, the “Brontosaurus” name is no more much to the dismay of many lay public… Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Fauquier ENT Blog*
April 10th, 2011 by ChristopherChangMD in Health Tips, Research
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Researchers in Turkey found that there is an association between nasal hair density and risk of asthma developing in patients with seasonal rhinitis patients. No joke… They published their findings in the International Archives of Allergy and Immunology in March 2011.
The rate of asthma found in patients with little or no nasal hair was 44.7% whereas only 16.7% of patients with a dense forest of nasal hair had asthma.
They hypothesize that increased nasal hair improves allergen filtration thereby preventing the allergens from irritating the airway. The assumption here being that allergen irritation of the airway can potentially cause asthma.
IF this is true (and that’s a big if)… patients with allergies should be encouraged to grow nice thick nasal hair to prevent future asthma!
Read the research abstract here!
Reference:
Does Nasal Hair (Vibrissae) Density Affect the Risk of Developing Asthma in Patients with Seasonal Rhinitis? Int Arch Allergy Immunol. 2011 Mar 30;156(1):75-80
*This blog post was originally published at Fauquier ENT Blog*
March 12th, 2010 by Shadowfax in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Opinion
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RCentor has an interesting article on Sore Throats and Pharyngitis over at MedRants. He writes:
There is a new trend in pharyngitis that has taken hold amongst emergency physicians – the use of steroids to provide symptom relief.
I too have noticed this, and I completely agree with Dr Centor that while this is a highly effective treatment, it needs to be used with some caution. For our practice, this has been pushed by the ENTs. It has been our experience that when we see someone with a really bad sore throat or even with a peritonsillar abscess, 100% of the time the instruction from the ENTs has been to administer steroids. While the data is underwhelming (pain relief on average six hours quicker with steroids), the truth is that for a really bad case of tonsillitis, steroids work. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Movin' Meat*
Eustachian tube dysfunction is a phenomenon whereby a person is unable to pop their ears to relieve symptoms of ear pressure, clogging, or fullness. It is much akin to the ear pressure a person experiences when flying, but at ground level. Traditionally, treatment of this condition involved medications like steroid nasal sprays and prednisone along with active valsalva. Once medical treatment has failed, ear tube placement has been the step of last resort.
