Hypoglossal Nerve Stimulation for Patients with Sleep Apnea Who Can’t Tolerate CPAP: Two Patients Benefit
Charles Njilefack was prescribed a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine 15 years ago for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). When he first received the device, he found it cumbersome to use and set it aside. “But I was not sleeping…
Airway Reconstruction Allows a Young Husband and Father to Live a Full Life
In early November 2019, Logan Buelow, then 22, suffered a devastating auto accident, rolling his dually truck several times. He was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, where he spent two weeks in a coma in the intensive care…
Diagnosis, Management, and Prevention of Empty Nose Syndrome
Five years ago, Mablean Warren had surgery for a deviated septum and enlarged turbinates, which were causing nasal obstruction. After her initial satisfaction with the outcome, she began noticing a decrease in her quality of life. “It was a gradual…
Removing a Glomus Tympanicum from the Middle Ear
Donna Allen began having problems with her hearing four years ago and was diagnosed with a glomus tympanicum tumor, a benign paraganglioma that forms from specific nerve cells that regulate blood pressure throughout the body. It was removed, and a…
Transnasal Endoscopic Surgery for a Sphenoid Inverted Nasal Papilloma
The sphenoid sinus is a rare location for an inverted nasal papilloma, a benign but invasive tumor with an associated malignancy rate of about 10%. In 2019, Robert Gum’s family doctor in Georgetown, Texas, identified a large sphenoid tumor when…
New Ears for Olimpia
In 2005, Olimpia Almazan was diagnosed with systemic scleroderma, one of a group of rare diseases that involve hardening and tightening of the skin and connective tissues. A few years later, she developed hearing loss. “I used to take my…
Repair of a Left Ethmoid Cerebrospinal Fluid Leak
For months, Janie Lee’s nose wouldn’t stop running. Clear fluid ran from her left nostril during the day and down her throat at night. A nurse at Woodland Heights Medical Center in Lufkin, Texas, Lee stuffed tissue in her nostrils…
Elliott and Elizabeth: Managing Sensorineural Hearing Loss in Siblings
When Elizabeth Maddox failed her newborn hearing screening after an early delivery by cesarean section, her pediatrician referred her to Audrey Taylor, AuD, with UT Physicians Audiology, the clinical practice of McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. This was familiar territory…
Reconstructive Rhinoplasty Gives a Young Girl Her Confidence Back
In mid-December 2020, 13-year-old Leighia Robles was crossing the street to get the mail when a pick-up truck approached her head on. She jumped out of the way but was hit in the face by the side-view mirror, crushing her…
Bilateral Cochlear Implants for Severe Sensorineural Hearing Loss in an 8 Month-Old
Nicholas Altong failed his newborn hearing screening. The test was repeated the following day, and he failed again. When his pediatrician learned that he had failed both screenings, she ordered a test to measure brain response to sound and gave…