Otolaryngologic clinics of North America
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Otolaryngol. Clin. North Am. · Apr 2012
Comparative StudyVestibular schwannoma: evidence-based treatment.
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Telemedicine and telehealth programs are generally more complex than their traditional on-site health care delivery counterparts. A few organizations have developed sustainable, multispecialty telemedicine programs, but single service programs, such as teleradiology and teledermatology, are common. Planning and maintaining a successful telemedicine program is challenging, and there are often barriers to developing sustainable telehealth programs. This article reviews some important aspects of developing a telehealth program, and provides two examples of currently operating successful model programs.
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Otolaryngol. Clin. North Am. · Dec 2011
ReviewTelehealth and humanitarian assistance in otolaryngology.
A significant worldwide need exists for humanitarian assistance in the specialty of otolaryngology. The field of telehealth has provided applications that have successfully expanded access to care in many fields of medicine, in both developed and developing countries. Collaboration, planning, and persistence are essential to developing successful telehealth applications. This article describes the need for otolaryngologic specialty care, current humanitarian outreach within the field of otolaryngology, and examples of successful programs that incorporate telehealth in otolaryngology care.
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Otolaryngol. Clin. North Am. · Oct 2011
ReviewReconstructive options for endoscopic skull base surgery.
This review describes the sequential learning from initial free tissue grafting reconstructive techniques to the current use of vascularized flaps. Outcomes and limitations of current endoscopic reconstructive techniques are discussed, including a systematic review of the outcomes of endoscopic endonasal techniques to reconstruct large skull base defects (ESBR). ⋯ The manuscripts selected were subject to full text review to extract data on perioperative outcomes for ESBR. Surgical technique was used for sub-group analysis.
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Otolaryngol. Clin. North Am. · Oct 2011
ReviewTraining in neurorhinology: the impact of case volume on the learning curve.
This article presents a current view of training in neurorhinology and focuses on the level of evidence for the clinical question of "how many cases are needed to achieve proficiency in endoscopic endonasal skull base surgery?" The authors discuss what defines surgical proficiency, what makes up the learning curve and how it shifts with increasing experience, comparisons of learning curves for different skull base surgeries, and conclude with a discussion and recommendations for achieving high-level proficiency.