For $349, Test Your DNA for 100+ Hereditary Diseases

Image from Wikipedia A company called Counsyl claims to be able to test an individual's DNA and determine the risk of passing on over 100 hereditary diseases to future offspring for $349 (or free with insurance). Such hereditary diseases they are able to test for include the commonly known cystic fibrosis to more rare conditions like Nijmegen Breakage Syndrome. The full list can be viewed here . Though many of the diseases listed are associated with ear, nose, throat problems, the li…

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New Surgical Approach to Treat Small Zenker's Diverticulum

In the January 2010 edition of Laryngoscope, an interesting paper entitled " Transoral resection of short segment Zenker's diverticulum and cricopharyngeal myotomy: an alternative minimally invasive approach " was published on a new endoscopic approach to surgically treat very small Zenker's Diverticulum. This endoscopic approach is also able to treat cricopharyngeal spasms/hypertrophy. Just as for the Endoscopic Staple Diverticulostomy (ESD) , the most common endoscopic ap…

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Research by Dr. Chang Mentioned in NSDA Newsletter

Our Voice, a newsletter published by the National Spasmodic Dysphonia Association , published a brief story (Volume 18, Number 2, Page 3) on research that Dr. Chris Chang performed that was published in ENT Journal May 2009. The research is entitled " A Survey of Current Practices of Physicians Who Treat Adductor Spasmodic Dysphonia in the US ". Co-authors include Drs. Peter Chabot and Christopher Walz. Click the image to enlarge in order to read the article. Read the research …

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Cold Urticaria (aka, Allergy to Cold Temperatures)

Fox 10 News did a story on Cold Urticaria which basically is an allergy to cold temperatures. With cold temperature exposure whether it be cold air, ice cube, or even ice cream, it can cause an allergic reaction resulting in lip swelling, drop in blood pressure, rash, significant itchiness, etc. There has even been cases where a person will go into anaphylactic shock if they jump into a cold swimming pool. Oddly enough, the symptoms typically occur AFTER warming up after a cold exposure due …

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Cell Phone Use May Cause Ear Pain/Dermatitis

With increasing use of cell phones in the population, there seems to be an increasing number of patients who present with complaints of pain in/around the ear with cell phone use. When cell phone use ceases, the pain/discomfort fades only to return with use. In this scenario, something to consider is contact dermatitis due to the cell phone. Why? Apparently, many cell phone casings contain free nickel which often causes skin problems, just like cheap jewelry. Check out this table which sh…

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Runny Nose Due to Spinal Fluid Leakage and Not Allergies!

Image from Wikipedia The Washington Post published a story on January 19, 2010 entitled " Doctors changed diagnosis after woman said allergies weren't causing runny nose ." In this story, the patient's runny nose from only one side was actually due to a CSF leak (cerebrospinal fluid leakage) and puts her at major risk for meningitis. Unfortunately for this particular patient, the hole through which this fluid was coming out from also had some brain tissue. She required ma…

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You May Have a Condition Called Local Allergic Rhinitis Even If Allergy Testing Negative!!!

Image from Wikipedia A recent study was published describing a condition called " Local Allergic Rhinitis ." This condition is when a patient appears to have sino-nasal allergies, but yet, have negative allergy test results whether on skin prick or RAST . Up to 40% of patients with negative allergy test results may have this condition. In order to diagnose this condition, it requires the detection of local antigen specific IgE in nasal secretions during natural exposure to aer…

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NYT: Blowing the Nose May Actually Make You Sicker???

On February 9, 2009, the New York Times published an interesting story regarding what happens if you blow your nose too hard. The story " The Claim: Never Blow Your Nose When You Have a Cold " reported that nose blowing generated enormous pressure — “equivalent to a person’s diastolic blood pressure reading,” — and propelled mucus into the sinuses every time. It was unclear whether this was harmful, but added that during sickness it could shoot viruses or bacteria into the sinuses, a…

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Can Playing a Wind/Brass Instrument Be a Source of Recurrent Infections?

Is playing a wind/brass instrument a significant factor for recurrent strep , URI's, sinus infections , etc in people? Is such use contagious? If so, how does one even go about "sterilizing" the instrument after use by a sick person so that they don't infect themself again as well as players around them when blowing into it? I got asked these questions by one astute parent of a trumpet player. After some inquiries and research, I actually don't have a good answer to whe…

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New Images of Ear Hematoma After Treatment with Quilting Suture

New images have been added to our Cauliflower Ear webpage showing what the ear looks like after hematoma drainage and quilting suture applied after 1 week and after 6 weeks. The images are shown below. Front Ear: 1 week after hematoma drainage and quilting suture applied. Back Ear: 1 week after hematoma drainage and quilting suture applied. Front Ear: 6 weeks after hematoma drainage and quilting suture applied. Back Ear: 6 weeks after hematoma drainage and quilting sutur…

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WP: Vaccine that Prevents the High of Cocaine!

The Washington Post on January 5, 2010 published a story " Testing of cocaine vaccine shows it does not fully blunt cravings for the drug " describing research in which participants were unable to experience the high of cocaine with use. Apparently, the vaccine creates antibodies to the cocaine that prevented its effects. Cocaine is an important illicit drug in the ENT world as it is associated with multiple nasal problems including septal perforation, nasal bleeding , rhinitis, na…

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RANDOM: Benford's Law Applied to Health?

Today, I listened to an amazing NPR RadioLab episode titled " Numbers ." In one of the stories in this episode, Jad and Robert Krulwich educated me on an interesting mathematical phenomenon called Benford's Law . Simply stated, Benford's Law states that in lists of numbers from many (but not all) real-life sources of data, the leading digit is distributed in a specific, non-uniform way. According to this law, the first digit of a number is "1" almost one third of …

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New Webpage on Cauliflower Ear/Auricular Hematoma

It is the time of year when auricular hematoma is common with high school wrestling. Just in the past 3 weeks, our office had to treat 4 ear hematomas in order to prevent cauliflower ear formation. Given how common it is based on the season, a new webpage has been created describing this condition and how it can be treated. Check it out here !

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