SCUBA Diver Pam Atherton Is Back Underwater
The ability to equalize Eustachian tube (ET) pressure is essential for SCUBA divers. As they descend deeper into the water, the outside pressure becomes greater than the air pressure inside the ear. As pressure increases, the eardrums and Eustachian tubes…
Treating Retrograde Cricopharyngeal Dysfunction, AKA No-Burp Syndrome
For as long as she can remember, Taylor Frazier, 26, had no ability to burp. Her mother remembers burping her as a baby, and at some point in her early teens, she started noticing bubbling and gurgling sounds in her…
Persistent Postural Perceptual Dizziness: An Uncommon Diagnosis May Be More Common Than Doctors Once Thought
Tom Bishop started experiencing dizziness in 2013 and saw several neurologists and otolaryngologists over the years with no conclusive diagnosis. “I had no sensation of whirling. It was more like a constant feeling that I was going to fall,” says…
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…