After Paul Fertsch broke his ankle in 2023, he started slowing down. “I couldn’t walk 25 feet without being exhausted. We thought it was related to my ankle, but my wife also noticed that my personality had changed,” Fertsch says....
Read More Advanced Imaging and Surgical Skill Lead to Successful Removal of a Parathyroid Adenoma
Retrograde cricopharyngeus muscle dysfunction (RCPD), characterized by the inability to belch and also known as no-burp syndrome, is primarily managed by intraoperative injection of botulinum toxin to the cricopharyngeus muscle, a quick procedure usually performed under general anesthesia with endotracheal...
Read More Is THRIVE Safe to Use During Botox Injection for No-Burp Syndrome?
How can hearing loss in congenitally deaf pediatric patients with cochlear implants best be measured? This is among the questions posed in ongoing research by Vivian Kaul, MD, a neurotologist and assistant professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern...
Read More Round Window Electrocochleography in Genetic Causes of Hearing Loss: A Pediatric Case Series
Rhinologist William C. Yao, MD, associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been named among Castle Connolly’s Top Asian American and Pacific Islander Doctors for the second consecutive year. Last year was...
Read More Dr. William Yao Named Among Castle Connolly’s Top AAPI Doctors for 2024
Rajarshi Pratihar, AuD, MHA, MBA, director of audiology in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, delivered two virtual presentations at CANREHAB-2024, on April 19-21, 2024. The meeting, held in Mumbai, was the third international multidisciplinary...
Read More Dr. Pratihar Presented on Ototoxicity and Bone-Anchored Hearing Devices at April Conference in Mumbai
Roger Zimmerman, who celebrated his 58th birthday this year, has had “sinus problems” his entire life. He continued to suffer sinus infections seven to eight times a year, and he received steroid shots and antibiotics frequently. “Finally I got tired...
Read More Diagnosing and Treating Acute Adult-Onset Sinusitis
Mohamed Darwish, MD, has joined the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston as an assistant professor. A top-ranking graduate of Cairo University’s Faculty of Medicine, Dr. Darwish completed his residency in otolaryngology at...
Read More Dr. Mohamed Darwish Joins the Department of Otorhinolaryngology
Facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon Tang Ho, MD, director of the Texas Center for Facial Plastic Surgery in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor...
Read More Dr. Tang Ho Named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor for 2024
A relatively rare complication of turbinate surgery, empty nose syndrome (ENS) manifests as difficulty breathing through the nose, feelings of nasal obstruction or suffocation, nasal dryness or burning, a reduced sense of smell or taste, and general fatigue. Psychological symptoms...
Read More The Use of Bovine-Derived Collagen Matrix in the Surgical Treatment of Empty Nose Syndrome
The effects of climate change on the environment and economy are well documented, and there is growing evidence that global warming also is a significant driver of rhinologic diseases, including allergic and nonallergic rhinitis, chronic rhinosinusitis, and allergic fungal rhinosinusitis....
Read More Investigating the Effect of Climate Change on Rhinologic Disease
Brave Josey, the four-year-old daughter of Erica and Daniel Josey, was in and out of the hospital in Dallas with misdiagnoses when her parents searched online and learned about retrograde cricopharyngeal dysfunction (RCPD), also known as no-burp syndrome. Brave was...
Read More Treating Retrograde Cricopharyngeal Dysfunction in a Young Child
Rhinologist and researcher Amber Luong, MD, PhD, was one of two U.S.-based physicians invited to attend the meeting of the European Forum for Research and Education in Allergy and Airway Diseases (EUFOREA), held in Brussels in summer 2023. Recently, she...
Read More EUFOREA Expert Consensus Defines Disease States and Treatment Goals in CRSwNP
Pediatric otolaryngologist Zhen “Jane” Huang, MD, MBA, CPO, assistant professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been named by her peers among Super Doctors Rising Stars® in Texas, which recognizes the best doctors...
Read More Dr. Zhen Huang Named a Texas Super Doctors Rising Star for 2024
Douglas Stanley, MD, an assistant professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at UTHealth Houston, has been named by his peers among Super Doctors Rising Stars® in Texas, which recognizes the best doctors who have been practicing in the state 10...
Read More Dr. Douglas Stanley Named a Texas Super Doctors Rising Star for 2024
Martin J. Citardi, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, delivered the invited Wilson Endowed Lecture at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C., on May...
Read More Dr. Martin Citardi Delivers the Wilson Endowed Lecture in Washington, DC
Amber Luong, MD, PhD, professor and vice chair for academic affairs in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, was an invited moderator and presenter at the 7th Congress of European ORL-HNS held in Dublin June...
Read More Dr. Amber Luong Invited to Present at the 7th Congress of European ORL-HNS in Ireland
When Mona King tried to swallow food, it lodged in her throat. “I would choke and have to drink water, and sometimes the food would come back up,” she says. “It was also causing me to have bad breath.” King...
Read More Endoscopic Zenker Diverticulum Repair Using a New Technique
Using the Epic Cosmos database, researchers in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at UTHealth Houston examined the use of the monoclonal antibody dupilumab as a therapy for chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) in more than 1.8 million patients treated at...
Read More Sinus Surgery vs. Dupilumab for Chronic Rhinosinusitis with Nasal Polyps: A Look at the Trends
William C. Yao, MD, associate professor and director of the residency program in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been named to the Academy of Master Educators at the medical school. The academy recognizes...
Read More Dr. Yao Named to Academy of Master Educators
Ron J. Karni, MD, chief of the Division of Head and Neck Surgical Oncology and an associate professor who holds joint appointments in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology and the Division of Hematology/Oncology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has...
Read More Dr. Ron Karni Named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor for 2024
Broad-spectrum, bactericidal antibiotics classed as aminoglycosides are commonly prescribed for infections caused by gram-negative bacteria with high resistance to antibiotics. They are also known to be toxic to the inner-ear sensory cells responsible for hearing and balance. Recently, researchers in...
Read More Are Antioxidant Therapies Effective in the Treatment of Aminoglycoside-Induced Ototoxicity?
David Allen, MD, now a chief resident in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, was recognized with two poster awards at the American Head and Neck Society (AHNS) meeting held in Chicago in May as...
Read More ORL Resident Receives Two Best Research Presentation Awards at COSM 2024
Chief residents Jumah Ahmad, MD, and Karim Asi, MD, have been selected as Residents of the Year in a tie vote by faculty members of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. Both have completed their...
Read More Three Residents Honored by the Department of Otorhinolaryngology
In November 2020, Johneshia Willis contracted COVID-19 and was hospitalized in intensive care for nearly two months. When her care team was unable to extubate her, Douglas Stanley, MD, an assistant professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical...
Read More The Hidden Goiter
Physician researcher Xiaoyang Hua, MD, PhD, FACS, has joined the faculty of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston as an associate professor. Dr. Hua began his academic journey at Tongji Medical University in China, where...
Read More Dr. Xiaoyang Hua Joins the Department of Otorhinolaryngology
Rhinologist and researcher Amber Luong, MD, PhD, professor and vice chair for academic affairs in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, was one of two U.S.-based physicians invited to attend the meeting of the European...
Read More Dr. Luong Invited to Attend the European Forum for Research and Education in Allergy and Airway Diseases
More than 70 physicians attended this year’s ORL Frontiers, sponsored by the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. Held June 21 at the new TMC3 Collaborative Building at Helix Park at the Texas...
Read More ORL Frontiers 2024 Highlights Advances in Rhinology
Shuhui Xu, MBBS, MRCS (Ireland), MMed (ENT), has completed a fellowship in neurorhinology and advanced endoscopic sinus surgery at the Texas Sinus Institute™ in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. She will...
Read More Dr. Shuhui Xu Completes Rhinology Fellowship at UTHealth Houston
Ali Jafar, MD, has completed a fellowship in facial plastic and reconstructive surgery at the Texas Center for Facial Plastic Surgery in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. A native of Kuwait, he will return...
Read More Dr. Ali Jafar Completes Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Fellowship at UTHealth Houston
Thirteen-month-old Chidalu Chioma was snoring loudly and waking up gasping for air when she was referred by her pediatrician to pediatric otolaryngologist Zhen “Jane” Huang, MD, MBA, CPO, an assistant professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School...
Read More Multidisciplinary Care for Severe Pediatric Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Jumah Ahmad, MD, Karim Asi, MD, and Sean McKee, MD, have completed their residency training in comprehensive otorhinolaryngology-head and neck surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. Dr. Ahmad leaves the Department of Otorhinolaryngology to begin fellowship training in...
Read More Congratulations to Our Graduating Residents
Vivian Kaul, MD, an assistant professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, was among 25 otolaryngologists and anesthesiologists who extended their practice beyond the walls of American hospitals to the Dominican Republic, where they...
Read More Pitching in to Help Dominicans with Otolaryngologic Disorders
Members of the Otolaryngology Residency Class of 2029 at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston have arrived in Houston from Louisiana, South Carolina, and Massachusetts. The department’s new residents are Hannah DellaCroce, MD, a native of Metairie, Louisiana, who graduated...
Read More Three New Residents Join the Team in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
Amber Luong, MD, PhD, professor and vice chair for academic affairs in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor for 2024. Top Doctors represent the top 7% of...
Read More Dr. Amber Luong Named Among 2024 Castle Connolly Top Doctors
A sound survey conducted during 420 pediatric otolaryngology clinic visits to a tertiary care facility in Houston sheds a first light on the level of noise to which pediatric ENTs are exposed. The results of the study, conducted from January...
Read More Examining Noise Exposure in a Busy Pediatric Otolaryngology Clinic
Rhinologist Amber Luong, MD, PhD, was the first physician recruited to the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston by Martin J. Citardi, MD, after he was appointed professor and chair in 2007. Since then, the department...
Read More Dr. Amber Luong Celebrates 15 Years of Accomplishment with UTHealth Houston
After the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic in March 2020, stay-at-home orders were issued across the United States, leading to delays in patient care and screening. Cancer care at Houston’s county-run safety-net hospital was halted by clinic shutdowns...
Read More The Impact of COVID-19 on Diagnosis and Treatment of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Head and neck surgical oncologist Kunal S. Jain, MD, an associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been named among Castle Connolly’s Top Doctors for 2024. Top Doctors represent the top 7%...
Read More Dr. Kunal Jain Named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor for 2024
Martin J. Citardi, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, is celebrating his eleventh consecutive year as a Castle Connolly Top Doctor. Dr. Citardi, who has been named to the list...
Read More Dr. Martin Citardi Named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor for the 11th Consecutive Year
After a conventional tonsillectomy at a community hospital outside of Houston, Thomas Standard was diagnosed with early stage tonsil cancer related to the human papillomavirus (HPV). When a PET scan following surgery showed residual cancer, a radiologist at the hospital...
Read More A Circulating Tumor Cell Test for HPV-Related Cancers Provides More Information to Physicians and Their Patients
Rhinologist Martin J. Citardi, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, and anesthesiologist Davide Cattano, MD, PhD, professor of anesthesiology, critical care, and pain medicine at the medical school, have worked...
Read More Perioperative Management for Optimization of the Surgical Field
Primary antibody deficiency (PAD) can occur in up to 50% of patients with recalcitrant chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), making a multidisciplinary collaboration with clinical immunology crucial to optimal management of the condition. This conclusion was reached by a multi-institutional team of...
Read More Chronic Rhinosinusitis with Primary Antibody Deficiency: An Underrecognized Condition
The unified airway hypothesis suggests that the entire respiratory system represents a functional unit that includes the nose, paranasal sinuses, larynx, trachea, and distal lung. For nearly two decades, researchers have accumulated evidence supporting the belief that many chronic inflammatory...
Read More The Unified Airway Hypothesis: Revisiting the Relationship Between Upper and Lower Airway Diseases
The Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at UTHealth Houston held its biennial two-day CME meeting at the Lakeway Resort and Spa in Austin, Texas. The course highlighted evidence-based treatments for common diseases and disorders of the ears, nose, and...
Read More Recap: The Texas Hill Country ENT Symposium 2024
In November 2022, Caroll Pellegrin felt unwell and saw his primary care provider with a worsening sore throat and “a little cough.” He tested negative for COVID-19, influenza, and strep throat. The following day he was unable to swallow and...
Read More Treatment for a Rare Case of Pharyngitis Progressed to Supraglottis and Necrosis
Rhinologist Peter Hwang, MD, professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and, by courtesy, of Neurosurgery, at Stanford University School of Medicine, will be the guest of honor at this year’s ORL Frontiers, to be held June 21, 2024, at TMC3/Helix...
Read More Dr. Peter Hwang to Speak at ORL Frontiers 2024
Researchers in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston have conducted a successful safety study of a novel bystander-administered device for the delivery of a potent opioid reversal agent. The PN Naloxone Nasal Swab by Pocket...
Read More Clinical Trial Shows Safety of a Novel Nasal Swab for Treatment of Opioid Overdose
In a small-cohort study of the therapeutic impact of intranasal capsaicin on symptoms of nonallergic rhinitis (NAR), researchers in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston confirmed significant improvement at one-month follow-up. This study builds on...
Read More New Data on Intranasal Capsaicin Therapy in Nonallergic Rhinitis
Rhinologist William C. Yao, MD, associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been named among Castle Connolly’s Top Doctors for 2024. Top Doctors, who represent the top 7% of all physicians practicing...
Read More Dr. William Yao Named Among Castle Connolly’s Top Doctors
Cochlear implantation (CI) is a mainstay in the treatment of severe sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). CI provides prelingually deaf children with the opportunity to develop speech and language skills and gives postlingually deaf patients the ability to hear again. In...
Read More How Did the COVID-19 Pandemic Affect Cochlear Implantation Rates and Costs in Children?
McGovern Medical School proudly announces the continued growth of its Office of Continuing Medical Education (CME) after securing accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). This essential office, mandated annually for state licensing and board certification, remains...
Read More UTHealth Houston CME Office Update
Martin J. Citardi, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology and vice dean for clinical technology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been named by his peers as a Texas Super Doctor®. Super Doctors is a...
Read More Dr. Martin Citardi Named 2023 Texas Super Doctor
Sancak Yuksel, MD, associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been named by his peers as a Top Doctor for 2023 by Houstonia magazine. Dr. Yuksel is a pediatric otolaryngologist and an...
Read More Dr. Yuksel Named Among Houstonia Magazine’s Top Doctors for 2023
When a CT scan revealed that chronic nasal polyps were causing Jeremy Pospech’s ethmoid sinus bone to thin, his ENT in Victoria, Texas, referred him to Amber Luong, MD, PhD, professor and vice chair for academic affairs in the Department...
Read More A Patient Participates in a Clinical Trial of New Biologics for Chronic Rhinosinusitis with Nasal Polyps and Asthma
The Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at UTHealth Houston will sponsor 2024 Texas Hill Country ENT Symposium, its biennial two-day CME meeting, at the Lakeway Resort and Spa in Austin, Texas, during March 22-23. The course is designed for...
Read More Save the Date: 2024 Texas Hill Country ENT Symposium
Head and neck surgical oncologist Kunal S. Jain, MD, an associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been named by his peers as a Texas Super Doctor®. Super Doctors is a listing...
Read More Dr. Kunal Jain Named a 2023 Texas Super Doctor
Although surgical navigation, which often is compared to a GPS-like view of a patient’s nose and sinuses, is commonly used in sinus and skull base procedures, there are little robust data on its actual performance in the operating room. The...
Read More Assessment of Surgical Navigation Accuracy During Endoscopic Sinus Surgery in a Real-World Environment
Virtual endoscopy (VE) has the potential to help both novice and expert rhinologists overcome the technical challenges presented during surgical dissection of the frontal sinus and frontal recess. As a planning tool, high-quality VE could provide benefits in surgical efficiency...
Read More Can Virtual Endoscopy Improve Surgical Planning in the Frontal Recess?
Pediatric otolaryngologist Zi Yang Jiang, MD, CPO, associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been named by his peers as a Top Doctor for 2023 by Houstonia magazine. Dr. Jiang serves as...
Read More Dr. Jiang Named Among Houstonia Magazine’s Top Doctors for 2023
After two hospitalizations in 2021 – one in February for dehydration and the second in September for acute colitis – Lolita Hernandez went to her primary care physician for a checkup, complaining of joint, muscle, and bone discomfort. When her...
Read More Collaboration Across Specialties Leads to a Good Outcome for Lolita Hernandez
In a retrospective review of patients with inverted papilloma (IP) who underwent resection during 2004-2021 at a tertiary care institution in the Texas Medical Center, researchers at UTHealth Houston concluded that radiomics and machine-learning applications hold great promise as novel...
Read More Can Machine Learning Identify the Tumor Attachment Site of a Sinonasal Inverted Papilloma?
Ibrahim “Trey” Alava III, MD, is celebrating his 10th anniversary as a faculty member in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. Dr. Alava is an associate professor and vice chair for quality...
Read More Dr. Trey Alava Celebrates 10 Years of Success
Rhinologist William C. Yao, MD, associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been named by his peers as a 2023 Texas Super Doctor®. Super Doctors is a listing of outstanding doctors from...
Read More Dr. William Yao Named a 2023 Texas Super Doctor
Zhen “Jane” Huang, MD, MBA, CPO, assistant professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been named by her peers as a Top Doctor for 2023 by Houstonia magazine. Dr. Huang was born in...
Read More Dr. Huang Named to Houstonia Magazine’s Top Doctor List for 2023
Alex Serna started losing his sense of smell gradually, and by early 2020, it was completely gone. Over the same two-year period, he developed a constant headache and his face progressively became misshapen. “I’m not a big complainer, so I...
Read More Treatment for a Patient with Bulky Nasal Polyps Eroding the Skull Base
In a move towards broadening accessibility to facial rejuvenation, the Texas Center for Facial Plastic Surgery has introduced year-end specials aimed at individuals interested in enhancing their natural features. Tang Ho, MD, MSc chief of facial plastic surgery and associate...
Read More Texas Center for Facial Plastic Surgery Introduces Special Offers for Comprehensive Facial Aesthetic Services
In the past, when patients booked an appointment with a doctor at UT Physicians Otorhinolaryngology through its website, office staff members worked behind the scenes to make that office visit happen. Now patients may schedule directly with all physicians in...
Read More A New Open Scheduling Initiative Connects ORL Physicians Directly with Their Patients
Residents of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston have recognized Ibrahim “Trey” Alava III, MD, as Faculty Member of the Year for 2023. An associate professor of otorhinolaryngology, Dr. Alava is vice...
Read More Dr. Trey Alava Named Faculty Member of the Year by ORL Residents
Rhinologist William C. Yao, MD, associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been named by his peers as a Top Doctor for 2023 by Houstonia magazine. Dr. Yao, who is co-director of...
Read More Dr. Yao Named to Houstonia Magazine’s Top Doctor List for 2023
UTHealth Houston’s Otolaryngology Residency Program is the highest ranked ENT residency program with three or fewer residents among the 26 U.S. programs rated by Doximity, the largest online professional network for physicians in the United States. Doximity’s comprehensive physician database...
Read More Otolaryngology Residency Program Ranked High by Doximity
In recognition of World Hearing Day, an annual global advocacy event for raising awareness about hearing loss and promoting ear and hearing care, UT Physicians audiologists provided no-cost hearing screenings to patients of all ages. The screenings were held Friday,...
Read More The Importance of Hearing Screening for All Age Groups
Steven Sapsowitz, MD, a family physician practicing in The Woodlands, Texas, was hit with the end of a hockey stick at the age of 7 while living in New York City. The injury caused a severe deviated septum, with a...
Read More Diagnosis and Repair of Empty Nose Syndrome in a Physician
The American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS), the world’s largest specialty association for facial plastic surgery, has granted formal accreditation of the Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Fellowship in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School...
Read More Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Fellowship Receives AAFPRS Accreditation
Rhinologist William C. Yao, MD, associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been named among Castle Connolly’s Top Asian American and Pacific Islander Doctors 2023. This year marks the first time Castle...
Read More Dr. Yao Named Among Castle Connolly’s Top AAPI Doctors
Martin J. Citardi, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology and vice dean for clinical technology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, was the guest of honor at the 13th Sleep, Allergy, and Rhinology Conference (SARC) held...
Read More Dr. Martin Citardi Attends 2023 SARC as Guest of Honor
Patients who see Douglas Stanley, MD, and Jason Talmadge, MD, at UT Physicians Otorhinolaryngology-The Woodlands benefit from an office redesign that includes expanded open space and patient-friendly features. “We took down walls to open up the waiting room and registration...
Read More UT Physicians Otorhinolaryngology-The Woodlands Gets a New Look
A diagnosis of head and neck cancer remains among the most devastating diagnoses a patient can receive. Not long ago, treatment mainly addressed the tumor, with tacit acceptance of the side effects of treatment. Under the leadership of Ron Karni,...
Read More Mitigating Side Effects While Optimizing Outcomes in Head and Neck Cancer
Vivian F. Kaul, MD, a fellowship-trained neurotologist, has joined the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, as an assistant professor. Dr. Kaul specializes in endoscopic ear surgery and focuses her practice on tumors...
Read More Dr. Vivian Kaul Joins the Otorhinolaryngology Team at UTHealth Houston
Transoral surgery (TOS) gives throat cancer patients options beyond traditional chemotherapy and radiation, with fewer side effects in those appropriately selected. Now, physicians who perform TOS in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth...
Read More Nonopioid Strategies for Controlling Pain After Transoral Surgery
More than 70 physicians participated in this year’s ORL Frontiers, sponsored by the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. Held June 23 at the Brown Foundation Institute for Molecular Medicine in the Texas...
Read More ORL Frontiers 2023 Highlights New Approaches to Common Clinical Challenges in Laryngology
Facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon W. Katherine Kao, MD, has been appointed assistant residency program director in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. Dr. Kao, an assistant professor in the department, has a strong interest...
Read More Dr. Katherine Kao Appointed Assistant Residency Program Director
Tracheostomy is a common procedure performed in acute care hospitals for patients who require long-term ventilation, have a need for continued pulmonary hygiene, or to bypass an upper-airway obstruction and safely deliver oxygen to the lungs. While tracheostomy saves lives,...
Read More Toward Best Practices for Tracheostomy Patients
Martin J. Citardi, MD, professor, chair, and Memorial Hermann Chair in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been named a Texas Super Doctor® for the tenth consecutive year, earning him a place on the...
Read More Dr. Martin Citardi Named to Texas Super Doctors Honor Roll
Jason Talmadge, MD, has been named by his peers among Super Doctors Rising Stars® in Texas. The results were published online at www.superdoctors.com, following an extensive independent nomination and research process. The Super Doctors Rising Stars list celebrates the best...
Read More Dr. Jason Talmadge Named a 2023 Texas Super Doctors Rising Star
Although there is a suggested link between idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) and spontaneous cerebrospinal fluid (sCSF) leak, as well as between IIH and dural venous sinus (DVS) narrowing, the link between DVS narrowing and sCSF leak is poorly understood. Researchers...
Read More Dural Venous Sinus Narrowing in Patients with Spontaneous Anterior Skull Base CSF Leak
Allergic rhinitis (AR) and non-allergic rhinitis (NAR) afflict more than 40 million people in the United States, resulting in health care expenditures of up to $1.2 billion annually and contributing significantly to morbidity. Both manifestations of chronic rhinitis have similar...
Read More AAOA-Funded Clinical Trial Examines the Effects of Radiofrequency Ablation of Posterior Nasal Nerves on Inflammatory Cytokines and Peak Nasal Inspiratory Flow
Residents in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston are creating and executing research projects that involve collaborations at three Texas Medical Center institutions: Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center,...
Read More Otorhinolaryngology Residents Invited to Present Their Research at COSM
Skull base tumors present with a broad range of symptoms that can make diagnosis challenging: nosebleeds, headaches, blurred or double vision, hearing loss, difficulty breathing, loss of balance, memory loss, or nausea and vomiting. Once diagnosed, they require an endoscopic...
Read More UTHealth Houston’s Endoscopic Skull Base Program Shows Significant Growth
Members of the Otolaryngology Residency Class of 2028 at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston have arrived in Houston from Bryan, TX, Miami, and Chicago. The department’s new residents are Evan de Joya, MD, from Wilmette, Illinois, who received his...
Read More Three New Residents Join the Team in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
Ali Jafar, MD, has completed a fellowship in neurorhinology and advanced endoscopic sinus surgery at the Texas Sinus Institute in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. A native of Kuwait, he will...
Read More Dr. Ali Jafar Completes Rhinology Fellowship at UTHealth Houston
Martin J. Citardi, MD, professor, chair, and Memorial Hermann Chair in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, is celebrating his tenth consecutive year as a Castle Connolly Top Doctor. Dr. Citardi, who has been named...
Read More Dr. Martin Citardi Named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor for the Tenth Consecutive Year
Sleep is critical for growing children to prevent obesity, poor mental health, injuries, and attention or behavior problems, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and as many as 50 percent of children experience sleep-related disorders at...
Read More Otolaryngology Pediatric Sleep Program Helps Children Using a Multidisciplinary Approach
Sai Challapalli, MD, and Arturo Eguia, MD, have completed their residencies in comprehensive otorhinolaryngology-head and neck surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. Dr. Challapalli leaves the department to begin fellowship training in facial reconstruction and plastic surgery at...
Read More Congratulations to Our 2023 Graduating Residents
Amber Luong, MD, PhD, professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been named vice chair for academic affairs. In her new role, she will advise and support faculty, residents, and fellows in their...
Read More Dr. Amber Luong Appointed Vice Chair for Academic Affairs
The maze-like structure of the paranasal sinuses presents significant challenges to surgical trainees in otorhinolaryngology as they perfect their endoscopic sinus surgery skills. In a study conducted among 10 residents in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern...
Read More 3D Printed Models for Sinus Surgery Simulation Improve Resident Learning
Rajarshi Pratihar, AuD, MHA, MBA, joined the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston as director of audiology in November 2022. Dr. Pratihar earned his Doctor of Audiology at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City in...
Read More Dr. Rajarshi Pratihar Joins the Division of Audiology as Director
The estimated “economic burden” of prescription opioid misuse in the U.S. is nearly $80 billion a year, including the costs of health care, lost productivity, addiction treatment and criminal justice involvement. Amidst the backdrop of an opioid epidemic, healthcare systems...
Read More Non-Narcotic Pain Meds After Sinus Surgery
Amber Luong, MD, PhD, professor and vice chair for academic affairs in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, was the invited guest speaker at the 40th Annual Ogura Lectureship and Resident Research Day held in...
Read More Dr. Amber Luong Delivers the 40th Annual Ogura Lectureship
Head and neck surgical oncologist Kunal S. Jain, MD, has been promoted to associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. He joined the department in 2015 and is director of...
Read More Dr. Kunal Jain Promoted to Associate Professor
Injuries from ingestion of wire bristles from grill-cleaning brushes are common and can lead to long-term swallowing problems and other potentially devastating injuries. Brandy Ogg’s significant other was grilling hamburgers at home last May, when Ogg swallowed what she thought...
Read More Removal of a Foreign Body in the Neck After Ingestion of a Wire Bristle
Pediatric otolaryngologist Shiva Daram, MD, MBA, has joined the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery as an assistant professor at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. His clinical interests include airway surgery, sleep apnea and sleep disordered breathing, hearing loss,...
Read More Dr. Shiva Daram Joins the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at UTHealth Houston
Amber Luong, MD, PhD, professor and vice chair for research in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, is the senior author of an invited review article on the controversy surrounding the role of fungi in...
Read More Illuminating the Role of Fungi in Chronic Rhinosinusitis
Rhinologist William C. Yao, MD, associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has received a 2022 Honor Award from the American Academy of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. The Honor Award is the first...
Read More Dr. William Yao Receives 2022 AAO-HNS Honor Award
Ibrahim “Trey” Alava III, MD, associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been named vice chair for quality for the department. In his new role, his goal is to...
Read More Dr. Ibrahim Alava Named Vice Chair for Quality
A little over a decade ago, Giovanni Ordonez started having trouble breathing at night, disrupting his sleep. He saw a local ENT, who recommended turbinate reduction, a procedure that reduces the volume of turbinate tissue to open the nasal airway....
Read More Empty Nose Syndrome: Diagnosis and Management in a 34-Year-Old Patient
Albert Merati, MD, an internationally recognized leader in the field of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery, will be the guest of honor at this year’s ORL Frontiers, to be held June 23, 2023, at the Brown Foundation Institute for Molecular Medicine...
Read More Dr. Albert Merati to Speak at ORL Frontiers 2023
Grand Rounds presented by the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston are now available online for continuing medical education (CME) credits. Physicians from other institutions and those in private practice are invited to...
Read More Otorhinolaryngology Grand Rounds Are Available Online for CME Credit
Tang Ho, MD, director of the Texas Center for Facial Plastic Surgery in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor. Dr. Ho, who has been...
Read More Dr. Tang Ho Named Among Castle Connolly Top Doctors for 2022
Zi Yang Jiang, MD, associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, is the new chief of pediatric otolaryngology for the department and Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital. He recently completed subcertification...
Read More Dr. Zi Yang Jiang Named Chief of Pediatric Otolaryngology
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...
Read More SCUBA Diver Pam Atherton Is Back Underwater
Empty Nose Syndrome (ENS) is a serious complication that is most often associated with excessive resection or insufficient healing of the nasal turbinate tissue after surgical intervention to reduce symptoms of nasal obstruction. Jason Talmadge, MD, assistant professor in the...
Read More Treatment of Empty Nose Syndrome
John Rasmussen, PhD, assistant professor at the Institute for Molecular Medicine at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, will use a nearly $1 million grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) to integrate and validate the...
Read More Using NIRFLI to Scan and Quantify Lymphatic Dysfunction in Patients with Head and Neck Cancer
Zi Yang Jiang, MD, associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been subcertified in complex pediatric otolaryngology (CPO) by the American Board of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (ABOHNS). To...
Read More Dr. Zi Yang Jiang Receives ABOHNS Subcertification in Complex Pediatric Otolaryngology
Residents of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston have recognized Sancak Yuksel, MD, as Faculty Member of the Year for 2022. An associate professor of otorhinolaryngology, Dr. Yuksel is a pediatric otolaryngologist...
Read More Dr. Sancak Yuksel Named Faculty Member of the Year
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...
Read More Treating Retrograde Cricopharyngeal Dysfunction, AKA No-Burp Syndrome
Amber Luong, MD, PhD, professor and vice chair for academic affairs in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, was an invited speaker at the Gulf Coast Consortia’s (GCC) Second Annual Future of Immunology Symposium in...
Read More Dr. Amber Luong Presents on AFRS at Gulf Coast Consortia Symposium
In March 2022, McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston transitioned its accreditation for continuing medical education activities to its Office of Continuing Medical Education. Previously, CME was offered in partnership with The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and...
Read More UTHealth Houston Expands Its Continuing Medical Education Program
Zhen “Jane” Huang, MD, MBA, assistant professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been subcertified in complex pediatric otolaryngology by the American Board of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (ABOHNS). To...
Read More Dr. Jane Huang Earns Subcertification in Complex Pediatric Otolaryngology
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...
Read More Persistent Postural Perceptual Dizziness: An Uncommon Diagnosis May Be More Common Than Doctors Once Thought
Martin J. Citardi, MD, professor and chair in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology and vice dean for clinical technology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been awarded a Memorial Hermann Endowed Chair. The endowment includes funds to support academic...
Read More Dr. Martin Citardi Named Memorial Hermann Chair
Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center (MH-TMC) and UTHealth Houston continue to be on the forefront of care during the COVID-19 pandemic. The medical center’s otolaryngology specialists have been among the most critical divisions in the care of COVID-19 patients during the...
Read More The Landscape of Otolaryngology during the COVID-19 Pandemic
The nurses and surgical technicians who make up the otorhinolaryngology-head and neck surgery operating room team at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center ensured smooth sailing for physicians and their patients during the early days of COVID-19 and throughout the pandemic. They...
Read More Planning, Teamwork, and Good Communication Ensured Outstanding Surgical Care for Otorhinolaryngology Patients During COVID-19
Kunal S. Jain, MD, has been named by his peers among Super Doctors Rising Stars® in Texas. The results were published online at www.superdoctors.com, following an extensive independent nomination and research process. The Super Doctors Rising Stars list celebrates the...
Read More Dr. Kunal Jain Named a 2022 Texas Super Doctors Rising Star
Zhen “Jane” Huang, MD, MBA, has been named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor for 2022. An assistant professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, Dr. Huang is also certified in complex pediatric otolaryngology by...
Read More Dr. Jane Huang Named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor for 2022
Tang Ho, MD, director of the Texas Center for Facial Plastic Surgery in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been named a Super Doctor® in Texas for 2022. Dr. Ho is...
Read More Dr. Tang Ho Named a 2022 Texas Super Doctor
Ron J. Karni, MD, has been named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor for 2022. An associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, Dr. Karni is chief of the Division of Head and Neck...
Read More Dr. Ron Karni Named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor for 2022
Amber Luong, MD, PhD, professor and vice chair for academic affairs in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor for 2022. She was previously named to the list...
Read More Dr. Amber Luong Named Among 2022 Castle Connolly Top Doctors
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...
Read More Hypoglossal Nerve Stimulation for Patients with Sleep Apnea Who Can’t Tolerate CPAP: Two Patients Benefit
More than 60 physicians participated in this year’s ORL Frontiers, sponsored by the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. Held June 17 at the Brown Foundation Institute for Molecular Medicine in the Texas...
Read More ORL Frontiers 2022 Highlights New Technology and Research
Congratulations to our 2022 winners of the Dean’s Teaching Excellence Awards at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston: Ibrahim “Trey” Alava III, MD; Ron J. Karni, MD; and William C. Yao, MD. As part of a comprehensive health science university,...
Read More Three Otorhinolaryngology Faculty Members Recognized for Teaching Excellence
Zhen “Jane” Huang, MD, MBA, has been named by her peers among Super Doctors Rising Stars® in Texas. Following an extensive independent nomination and research process, the results were published online at www.superdoctors.com. The Super Doctors Rising Stars list celebrates...
Read More Dr. Jane Huang Named a 2022 Texas Super Doctors Rising Star
Martin J. Citardi, MD, professor, chair, and Memorial Hermann Chair in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor for 2022. Dr. Citardi, who has been named to the...
Read More Dr. Martin Citardi Named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor for 2022
Rhinologist William C. Yao, MD, associate professor, director of the residency program, and co-director of the UTHealth Houston Rhinology and Skull Base Fellowship in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been named by his...
Read More Dr. William Yao Named a 2022 Houstonia Magazine Top Doctor
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...
Read More Airway Reconstruction Allows a Young Husband and Father to Live a Full Life
The Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at UTHealth Houston held its biennial two-day CME meeting at the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa in the Texas Hill Country. The symposium highlighted evidence-based treatments for common diseases and disorders...
Read More Recap: The Texas Hill Country ENT Symposium 2022
Members of the Otolaryngology Residency Class of 2027 at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston have arrived in Texas from three corners of the United States. The department’s new residents are Ugur Nur Basmaci, MD, who received her medical degree...
Read More Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Adds Three New Residents
Ibrahim “Trey” Alava III, MD, associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor for 2022. Dr. Alava, who was named to the list...
Read More Dr. Ibrahim Alava Named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor for 2022
William C. Yao, MD, associate professor and director of the residency program in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been named a Super Doctor® in Texas for 2022. Super Doctors are...
Read More Dr. William Yao Named a 2022 Texas Super Doctor
Andy Chua, MBBS, MRCS(Ed), MMed(ORL), FAMS(ORL), has completed a fellowship in neurorhinology and advanced endoscopic sinus surgery at the Texas Sinus Institute in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. A native of...
Read More Dr. Andy Chua Completes Rhinology Fellowship at UTHealth Houston
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...
Read More Diagnosis, Management, and Prevention of Empty Nose Syndrome
The new 17-story Susan and Fayez Sarofim Pavilion at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center includes state-of-the-art operating rooms dedicated for the use of otorhinolaryngologists at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. “The new ORs were built to our specifications and are...
Read More State-of-the-Art ORs Open a New Chapter for the Department of Otorhinolaryngology
Amber Luong, MD, PhD, professor and vice chair for research in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, is co-senior author of an invited Viewpoint on allergic fungal rhinosinusitis (AFRS), published in the International Forum of...
Read More Allergic Fungal Sinusitis: A Call to Action and a New Clinical Trial
Kunal S. Jain, MD, associate professor of otorhinolaryngology-head and neck surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor for 2021-2022. Dr. Jain received his bachelor’s degree in economics at Cornell University, after...
Read More Dr. Kunal Jain Named Among Castle Connolly Top Doctors
Parul Sinha, MD, has completed a fellowship in facial plastic and reconstructive surgery at the Texas Center for Facial Plastic Surgery in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. She will join a large ENT group...
Read More Dr. Parul Sinha Completes Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Fellowship at UTHealth Houston
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...
Read More Removing a Glomus Tympanicum from the Middle Ear
Houston residents attended an open house to meet the medical professionals and learn about services offered at the Texas Center for Facial Plastic Surgery. Led by chief of facial plastic and reconstructive surgery Tang Ho, MD, the center is a...
Read More The Texas Center for Facial Plastic Surgery Opens Its Doors to the Community
The answer is yes. In a study conducted at a large academic safety-net hospital in Houston, researchers in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston evaluated the effectiveness of an educational initiative to improve vaccination rates...
Read More Can the Otolaryngologist Advocate for the HPV Vaccine?
Vivek M. John, MD, and Bailey A. LeConte, MD, have completed their residencies in comprehensive otorhinolaryngology-head and neck surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. Dr. John leaves the department to become a comprehensive otolaryngologist at the Indiana University...
Read More Congratulations to Our 2022 Graduating Residents
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...
Read More Transnasal Endoscopic Surgery for a Sphenoid Inverted Nasal Papilloma
Researchers in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston conducted a retrospective cohort study to identify differences in inpatient otolaryngology consultations and interventions based on patients’ COVID-19 status. Results of the study, which...
Read More Inpatient Otolaryngology Consults in the COVID-19 Era
J. Paul Radabaugh (former rhinology fellow at McGovern Medical School) presented the results of a retrospective study of intrathecal fluorescein (IF) use for detection of cerebrospinal fluid leaks (CSF) at the American Rhinology Society annual meeting in Los Angeles. The...
Read More Intrathecal Fluorescein for CSF Leak Detection
Amber Luong, MD, PhD, professor and vice chair for research in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, presented on transcriptomics as a panel member at the American Rhinology Society annual meeting in Los Angeles. In...
Read More Dr. Amber Luong Discusses Transcriptomics at ARS Annual Meeting
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...
Read More New Ears for Olimpia
Honoring its commitment to provide an exceptional patient experience with every visit, UT Physicians, the clinical practice of McGovern Medical School, has made patient ratings and comments available online to the public. “We have used patient survey data internally for...
Read More Patient Ratings of Care Provided by UT Physicians Are Now Available Online
During the COVID-19 pandemic, pediatric otolaryngologists around the country observed a dramatic reduction in otitis media cases and tympanostomy tube procedures, notes Zhen “Jane” Huang, MD, MBA, an assistant professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern...
Read More Are Kids Getting Healthier?
Shaina Gong, MD, was recognized with the 2021 Texas Association of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery’s Lloyd A. Storrs Jr., MD Resident Research Award, and invited to present the results of her research at the organization’s annual meeting, held in...
Read More UTHealth Houston Otorhinolaryngology Resident Presents TAO Lloyd Storrs Lecture
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...
Read More Repair of a Left Ethmoid Cerebrospinal Fluid Leak
Physician researchers at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth have shown that free flaps can be used safely and effectively in secondary head and neck reconstruction following gunshot wounds (GSW). The study results, presented at the spring meeting of American Academy...
Read More Management of Maxillofacial Gunshot Wounds Requiring Free Tissue Transfer
Researchers in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston are investigating the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to identify attachment sites for inverted papillomas. Arising in the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses, papillomas...
Read More An ARS Research Grant Allows a Resident to Test AI and Machine Learning to Identify Tumor Sites
For the past 5 years, Amber Luong, MD, PhD, professor and vice chair for research in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has organized a panel discussion on in-office procedures at the annual meeting of...
Read More Recap: AAO Panel Discussion on In-Office ENT Procedures
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...
Read More Elliott and Elizabeth: Managing Sensorineural Hearing Loss in Siblings
Both a non-narcotic and a narcotic pain medication provided the same relief after nasal and sinus surgery in a randomized, controlled study conducted by physician researchers in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth....
Read More NSAIDS Prove Effective for Pain Control Following Common ENT Surgeries
The Houston Society of Otolaryngology awarded chief otorhinolaryngology resident Bailey LeConte, MD, its first-place research award for her presentation on aerosol-generating procedures (AGPs) at the organization’s annual resident research competition. Her research was published as a letter to the editor...
Read More Aerosol-Generating Procedures Presentation Garners a First-Place HSO Resident Research Award
Rhinologist William C. Yao, MD, co-director of the UTHealth Rhinology and Skull Base Fellowship in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been named among 2021 Castle Connolly Rising Stars. The awardees are recognized throughout...
Read More Dr. William Yao Named a Castle Connolly Rising Star
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...
Read More Reconstructive Rhinoplasty Gives a Young Girl Her Confidence Back
Neurofibromas of the larynx are extremely rare in the pediatric population, with few cases reported in the literature. When a five-year-old girl with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF-1) presented with a large laryngeal mass, physicians in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and...
Read More Endoscopic Surgery for a Large Laryngeal Neurofibroma
Rhinologist William C. Yao, MD, co-director of the UTHealth Rhinology and Skull Base Fellowship in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been named by his peers as a Top Doctor for 2021 by Houstonia...
Read More Dr. William Yao Named Among Top Doctors by Houstonia Magazine
Ibrahim “Trey” Alava III, MD, associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been named a Top Doctor by Castle Connolly for 2021. The Castle Connolly list covers all 50...
Read More Dr. Ibrahim Alava Named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor
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...
Read More Bilateral Cochlear Implants for Severe Sensorineural Hearing Loss in an 8 Month-Old
UT Physicians audiologist Anna Jilla, AuD, PhD, is the lead author of a recent article in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society on the high prevalence of hearing loss among older adults. “Age-related hearing loss is pertinent to any...
Read More Detecting and Treating Hearing Loss in Older Adults
Patients with nonallergic rhinitis (NAR) suffer from persistent nasal congestion, rhinorrhea, and postnasal drainage unrelated to an identifiable allergen, structural abnormality, or sinus disease. A diagnosis of exclusion with limited treatment options, NAR exacts a heavy toll on quality of...
Read More Trial Results Show Benefits of Intranasal Capsaicin for Patients with Nonallergic Rhinitis
Martin J. Citardi, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, has been named by his peers among Super Doctors® in Texas. Super Doctors are selected through a rigorous process...
Read More Dr. Martin Citardi Named Among 2021 Texas Super Doctors
A relatively small percentage of sialolithiasis, or salivary gland stones, involves the largest salivary glands, the parotids, with symptoms that include painful swelling at meal times. “Although I didn’t have pain, my left cheek would swell up right before I...
Read More Jim Connors Benefits from Minimally Invasive Sialendoscopy
An ongoing increase in the number of residents and a new partnership with Houston Methodist Hospital have expanded the graduate medical education program in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. The department currently...
Read More McGovern Medical School’s Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Residency Program Expands
Data collected in a study of patients at two Houston otolaryngology clinics – one private and the other at a safety-net hospital – show that there is an unmet need for evaluation and acknowledgment of health literacy disparities in patients...
Read More Improving Health Literacy in Otolaryngology Patients
Tang Ho, MD, director of the Texas Center for Facial Plastic Surgery and chief of facial plastic surgery in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, has been named a Castle Connolly Regional Top...
Read More Dr. Tang Ho Named a 2021 Regional Top Doctor
In 2009, at the age of 31, Diona Manning underwent a tonsillectomy. Prior to the surgery, her ENT found a small, asymptomatic carotid body tumor where her left carotid artery branches into smaller vessels that carry blood to the brain....
Read More Multidisciplinary Removal of a Large Carotid Body Tumor
Jason D. Talmadge, MD, has joined the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston as an assistant professor and member of UT Physicians Otorhinolaryngology-The Woodlands. An Ohio native, Dr. Talmadge is a Phi Beta...
Read More Dr. Jason Talmadge Joins the Department of Otorhinolaryngology
Residents of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth have recognized rhinologist William C. Yao, MD, as Faculty Member of the Year for 2021. Dr. Yao is an associate professor and director of the...
Read More Dr. William Yao Named Faculty Member of the Year
Tang Ho, MD, director of the Texas Center for Facial Plastic Surgery in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, has been named by his peers among Super Doctors® in Texas for 2021. Super...
Read More Dr. Tang Ho Named Among Texas Super Doctors for 2021
For nearly a decade, Aster Kebreab’s right cheek swelled when she ate, and if she pressed on it, it was painful. During those years she saw her dentist, an allergist, and several ENTs, all of whom prescribed various antibiotics. “The...
Read More Minimally Invasive Sialendoscopy Provides Relief for Aster Kebreab
Denna Zebda, MD, has joined the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth as an assistant professor and a member of UT Physicians Otorhinolaryngology-Southeast. She completed her residency in the department prior to joining the...
Read More Dr. Denna Zebda Joins the Department of Otorhinolaryngology
Rhinologist William C. Yao, MD, director of the otorhinolaryngology residency program, has been promoted to associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. Dr. Yao joined the department in 2015 as an...
Read More Dr. William Yao Promoted to Associate Professor
Soham Roy, MD, professor and Vice Chair for Academic Affairs & Quality in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, has been named by his peers among Super Doctors® in Texas. Super Doctors are...
Read More Dr. Soham Roy Named a 2021 Texas Super Doctor
When Lucy Laker failed her newborn hearing screening twice, her pediatrician referred her to Audrey Taylor, AuD, at UT Physicians Audiology for auditory brainstem response (ABR) testing. Dr. Taylor confirmed Lucy’s hearing loss in December 2019, with a natural sleep...
Read More The Greatest Gift: Bilateral Cochlear Implants Help a Toddler Meet Her Milestones
Andrew G. Tritter, MD, has joined the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth as an assistant professor and a member of UT Physicians Otorhinolaryngology-Texas Medical Center. Dr. Tritter will serve as the new...
Read More Dr. Andrew Tritter Joins the Department of Otorhinolaryngology
William C. Yao, MD, has been named director of the Otorhinolaryngology Residency Program at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. Dr. Yao is a fellowship-trained rhinologist and assistant professor at the medical school with a strong interest in residency education, including...
Read More Dr. William Yao Appointed Otorhinolaryngology Residency Program Director
Pediatric otolaryngologist Zi Yang Jiang, MD, has been promoted to associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. Dr. Jiang joined the department in 2015 as an assistant professor. Certified by the...
Read More Dr. Zi Yang Jiang Promoted to Associate Professor
In 2014, Haley Woodfin, then a freshman in college, started having surprising symptoms of chronic rhinosinusitis, accompanied by fever and ongoing general illness. She underwent a number of surgeries, including balloon sinuplasty, placement of an ear tube, rhinoplasty for a...
Read More UT Physicians Audiologist Looks Beyond Hearing Loss to Resources for Life
Being able to comprehend conversations and follow verbal instructions are things most of us take for granted. But for those with hearing and speech disorders, these simple tasks can become quite challenging. “Children and senior citizens commonly present with hearing...
Read More Improving Quality of Life for Those With Hearing Disorders
Soham Roy, MD, MMM, professor and vice chair in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, has been named chair of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS) Patient Safety and Quality...
Read More Dr. Soham Roy Appointed Chair of AAO-HNS Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Committee
Under normal circumstances, medical professionals struggle with burnout and finding ways to reach a good work-life balance. Now with the current COVID-19 pandemic, some physicians who normally would have a problem finding free time, have had to find ways to...
Read More Carpentry Brings Flavor to Time at Home
Jim Finley, who has been in the newspaper business for more than 36 years, writes a humor column for the Baytown Sun, a community newspaper published three days a week in Baytown, Texas, 25 miles east of Houston. In September...
Read More Ten Years Out, Jim Finley Looks Back on Beating Cancer
Even before his upcoming doctor’s visit, Tim McGuire knew of the approaching transition to a new patient portal, MyUTHealth. After using the old portal for years, McGuire was excited to discover what the upgrade would offer. “I had enjoyed the...
Read More New Portal Helps Patient Maintain Connection to Care Team
More than 75 physicians from around the world participated in ORL Frontiers second virtual event, sponsored by the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. Held June 18, 2021, the department research event highlights emerging...
Read More ORL Frontiers Marks Second Virtual Presentation
Jeffrey Paul Radabaugh, MD, has completed a fellowship in neurorhinology and advanced endoscopic sinus surgery at the Texas Sinus Institute in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. He will relocate to Jacksonville, Florida,...
Read More Dr. Paul Radabaugh Completes Rhinology Fellowship at UTHealth
When Joselyn Lee’s calcium levels were high in 2018, her endocrinologist referred her to Kunal Jain, MD, a head and neck cancer surgeon in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, who also specializes in parathyroid surgery....
Read More Advanced Imaging and Surgical Skill Ensures Successful Removal of a Parathyroid Adenoma
Kristine Carioggia had just made a career change from medical device rep to home-based monitoring of remote transmissions from pacemakers, defibrillators, and implantable heart monitors, when she suffered a severe migraine. “I hadn’t had a migraine in a while, and...
Read More A Patient Regains Her Hearing After Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Douglas Stanley, MD, was named by his peers among Super Doctors Rising Stars® in Texas. Following an extensive independent nomination and research process, the results have been published online at www.superdoctors.com. The Super Doctors Rising Stars List celebrates the best...
Read More Dr. Douglas Stanley Named a 2021 Texas Super Doctors Rising Star
Garren Low, MD, and Denna Zebda, MD, have completed their residencies in otorhinolaryngology-head and neck surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. Dr. Low leaves UTHealth to begin a fellowship in head and neck surgery at the University of Oregon...
Read More Congratulations to Our Residency Graduates
When Phoebe Murphy first complained of headaches, her parents, both of whom suffer from migraines, thought she might have inherited the tendency. “We spent two years trying different medications for her headaches, but nothing relieved them,” says Phoebe’s mother, Jeannie...
Read More Endoscopic Surgery for a Rare Presentation of Sinonasal Osteoma
The inherent risks of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in the operating room are well-understood. Among specialists, otolaryngologists are perceived to be a increased operational risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2 due to high concentrations of the virus in the nasal cavity, nasopharynx and oropharynx,...
Read More Use of Povidone-Iodine for SARS-CoV-2 Prophylaxis During Procedures of Ears, Nose, Mouth and Throat
Sancak Yuksel, MD, an associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, was named by his peers among Super Doctors® in Texas for 2020. Super doctors are selected through a rigorous process...
Read More Dr. Sancak Yuksel Named Among Super Doctors in Texas
Rick Jackson was failing maximal medical treatment and well on his way to a third trip to the OR for nasal polyposis, when his rhinologist Martin J. Citardi, MD, suggested that he try SINUVA®. The corticosteroid-eluting implant is indicated for...
Read More Minimally Invasive In-office Treatment for Nasal Polyps
Chuck Frank’s problem of nasal obstruction came on gradually over 12 to 18 months. By spring 2019, he was waking up every morning unable to breathe through his nose. “At first I thought it was allergies or a cold, but...
Read More Inferior Turbinate Reduction Allows a Patient to Avoid Septoplasty
Ron Karni, MD, associate professor and chief of the Division of Head and Neck Surgical Oncology in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, was named by his peers among Super Doctors® in Texas...
Read More Dr. Ron Karni Named Among Super Doctors in Texas
Amber Luong, MD, PhD, professor and vice chair for research in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, was named by her peers among Super Doctors® in Texas for 2020. Super doctors are selected...
Read More Dr. Amber Luong Named Among Texas Super Doctors
Laurie Killam was left with a tiny hole in her right eardrum after an ENT injected dexamethasone as a treatment for vertigo. “The hole didn’t heal, but I wasn’t aware of that,” says Killam, 55. “When I squeezed a mixture...
Read More Right Tympanoplasty for a Nonhealing Perforation Restores Laurie Killam’s Hearing
Flor Rodriguez of Kingsville, Texas, is among the many patients who have benefited from the expertise of head and neck cancer surgeons in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. In early January 2020,...
Read More Removal and Reconstruction of an Oral Cavity Cancer During COVID-19 Lockdown
Pediatric otolaryngologists Soham Roy, MD, Sancak Yuksel, MD, and Zi Yang Jiang, MD, have been named by their peers as Top Doctors for 2020 by Houstonia magazine. “Of the nine pediatric otolaryngologists named to this year’s Houstonia Top Doctors list,...
Read More Three UTHealth Pediatric ENTs Named Among Top Doctors by Houstonia Magazine
As one of the largest not-for-profit health systems in Texas, Memorial Hermann has a nationally acclaimed Accountable Care Organization (ACO), 17 hospitals, and numerous specialty programs and services located throughout the Greater Houston area. Now, the system launched one of...
Read More Memorial Hermann Launches Cancer ACO
Although not yet widely available, transoral robotic surgery (TORS) has moved treatment for throat cancer away from primary chemotherapy and radiation toward surgery, with fewer side effects in appropriately selected patients. Among them is John Bush, who woke up one...
Read More Transoral Robotic Surgery Speeds Recovery for a Patient with HPV-Associated Tonsil Cancer
Curtis Griffin was on the verge of a sixth surgery for nasal polyposis when his rhinologist suggested that he try dupilumab, a monoclonal antibody approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat asthma, atopic dermatitis, and chronic rhinosinusitis...
Read More The Perfect Candidate for Dupilumab
Ron J. Karni, MD, grew up in Houston and, after finishing his medical education, returned in 2009 to join the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. In the 2019-2020 academic year, Dr. Karni celebrated...
Read More Dr. Ron Karni Honored for 10 Years of Service to UTHealth
Amber U. Luong, MD, PhD, professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, has been named vice chair for research. In her new role she will expand the department’s research footprint to increase productivity and solidify...
Read More Dr. Amber Luong Named Vice Chair for Research
At 21 months of age, Elijah Zúñiga was undergoing physical, occupational, and speech therapy at Shriners Hospitals for Children-Houston when his physicians discovered that he could not hear. “Elijah had just recovered from bacterial meningitis and was in rehabilitation for...
Read More A Profoundly Deaf Toddler Hears After Bilateral Cochlear Implantation
Ibrahim “Trey” Alava III, MD, associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, was named by his peers among Super Doctors® in Texas for 2020. Super doctors are selected through a rigorous...
Read More Dr. Ibrahim Alava Named Among Texas Super Doctors
Amber U. Luong, MD, PhD, vice chair for research, has been promoted to full professor with tenure in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. Dr. Luong joined the department in 2009 and in...
Read More Dr. Amber Luong Promoted to Professor
Not even a hurricane could stop Laurie Carraway, a medical assistant at UT Physicians Otorhinolaryngology-Texas Medical Center who works on the clinic’s early-start crew. Carraway was the first MA to arrive at the clinic during Hurricane Laura, a Category 4...
Read More ORL Staff Member Laurie Carraway Named Houston Dynamo Hero of the Match
An unsightly bump on 13-year-old Sara Hasan’s nose led her pediatrician to refer her to Zhen “Jane” Huang, MD, MBA, a pediatric otolaryngologist and assistant professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth....
Read More Cosmetic Excision of a Nasal Papilloma and Protection Against Recurrence
Tang Ho, MD, chief of facial plastic and reconstructive surgery in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, offers the thread lift, an in-office procedure in which dissolvable sutures are used to produce a...
Read More Minimally Invasive Thread Lift Goes Beyond Fillers to Roll Back the Clock
Ira Papel, MD, a clinical professor of otolaryngology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, will be guest of honor at ORL Frontiers 2021, which will be held on June 18, 2021, at the Brown Foundation Institute for Molecular...
Read More Dr. Ira Papel to Speak at ORL Frontiers 2021
Kathryn “Katie” Lidard, MSN, APRN, AGACNP-BC, CEN, has joined the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth and the medical staff of Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center as an adult acute care nurse practitioner. In her...
Read More An Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Joins the Otorhinolaryngology Team
Joe Amante was coming home from dinner in December 2018 when he lost the hearing in his left ear. It was replaced by ringing that grew progressively louder. Within a few months, he had lost the ability to walk unassisted...
Read More With a Cochlear Implant, Joe Amante Gets His Life Back
Tang Ho, MD, chief of facial plastic and reconstructive surgery in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, was recognized for 10 years of service to UTHealth in the 2019-2020 academic year. An associate...
Read More Dr. Tang Ho Honored for 10 Years of Service to UTHealth
Soham Roy, MD, professor and vice chair in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, celebrated his 10th anniversary as a faculty member in the 2019-2020 academic year . Dr. Roy is a recognized...
Read More Dr. Soham Roy Recognized for 10 Years of Service to UTHealth
Soham Roy, MD, professor and vice chair in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, has been named by his peers among Super Doctors® in Texas. Super Doctors are selected through a rigorous process...
Read More Dr. Soham Roy Named Among Texas Super Doctors for 2020
Zhen “Jane” Huang, MD, MBA, first met Ricardo “J.J.” Castaneda in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital in 2017, when he was 4 months old. Born prematurely at 32 weeks, he had a heart defect...
Read More From Neonate to Toddler: Handling a Complex Case Over 3 Years
Sancak Yuksel, MD, an associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, was recognized for 10 years of service at UTHealth in the 2019-2020 academic year. Dr. Yuksel is a pediatric otolaryngologist...
Read More Dr. Sancak Yuksel Celebrates 10 Years of Service to UTHealth
Tang Ho, MD, MSc, chief of facial plastic and reconstructive surgery in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, has been named by his peers among Super Doctors® in Texas. Super Doctors are selected...
Read More Dr. Tang Ho Named Among Texas Super Doctors for 2020
Soham Roy, MD, professor and vice chair in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, has been named by his peers as a Top Doctor for 2020 by Houstonia Magazine. Dr. Roy is chief...
Read More Dr. Soham Roy Named Among Top Doctors by Houstonia Magazine
Two UTHealth otorhinolaryngology residents were among four Houston-area residents invited to present their research as winners of the Houston Society of Otolaryngology’s annual Resident Scientific Research Competition. The presentations were made by fourth-year resident Denna Zebda, MD, who won HSO’s...
Read More UTHealth Otorhinolaryngology Residents Named HSO Resident Scientific Research Winners
For a few years, Maria Dolores Salinas thought the occasional inflammation on the right side of her face was associated with upper respiratory infections. “I looked like I had mumps under my right jaw, and it was difficult to swallow,”...
Read More Sialendoscopy: Better Outcomes Without Incisions
Ronda Alexander, MD, assistant professor and director of residency training in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, has been named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor for 2020. She has earned the distinction every...
Read More Dr. Ronda Alexander Named Among Castle Connolly Top Doctors for 2020
Each year, residents of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth have the opportunity to name the faculty member they feel has made the greatest impact on their learning experience. This year, the residents...
Read More Dr. Katherine Kao Named Faculty Member of the Year by Otorhinolaryngology Residents
Laura J. van de Laar, MD, and Jeffrey D. Johnson II, MD, have completed their residencies in otorhinolaryngology-head and neck surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. Dr. van de Laar began a fellowship in rhinology and skull base surgery...
Read More Congratulations to Our 2020 Graduating Residents
UT Physicians Audiology and UT Physicians Otorhinolaryngology, the outpatient clinics of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, will open their doors to the public on Friday, Nov. 13, 2020, from 9 a.m. to...
Read More UT Physicians Audiology Invites You to a Citywide Open House
Scott Nickell was among the millions of people who suffer from difficulty breathing through the nose. Until recently his only options were medications or breathing strips that offer temporary relief, or invasive surgeries that involve a period of recovery. In...
Read More Minimally Invasive Nasal Remodeling Helps a Patient Breathe More Easily
The Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth is investigating the efficacy and safety of an intranasal treatment for adults with chronic sinusitis with or without nasal polyps. The treatment is XHANCE®, which has been...
Read More A Clinical Trial of a Nonsurgical Treatment for Chronic Sinusitis is Enrolling at UTHealth
Soham Roy, MD, professor and Vice Chair for Academic Affairs & Quality in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, has been named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor for 2020. “It’s an honor to...
Read More Dr. Soham Roy Named Among Castle Connolly Top Doctors for 2020
Isaac Schmale, MD, has completed a fellowship in neurorhinology and advanced endoscopic sinus surgery at the Texas Sinus Institute in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. After fellowship, he joined the faculty at...
Read More Dr. Isaac Schmale Completes Rhinology Fellowship at UTHealth
Jeff Cobb had surgery for nasal polyposis 23 years ago and vowed he would never go through it again. “The surgery was more or less successful, but it was a painful experience for me with a long recovery,” says Cobb,...
Read More Treating Nasal Polyps due to AERD with Revision Sinus Surgery and Aspirin Desensitization
Hyperparathyroidism occurs in people in every age group but is most common in patients in their 50s, 60s, and 70s. When father and daughter Chris and Macayla Potter were both diagnosed with hypercalcemia, otorhinolaryngologist Ron Karni, MD, suspected a genetic...
Read More Hyperparathyroidism in a Father and Daughter Linked to a Genetic Syndrome
Amber Luong, MD, PhD, a practicing rhinologist and research director in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, has been named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor for 2020. She has earned the distinction six...
Read More Amber Luong, MD, PhD Named Among Castle Connolly Top Doctors for 2020
More than 100 physicians from around the world participated in ORL Frontiers first-ever virtual event, sponsored by the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. Held June 19, 2020, the daylong department research event highlights...
Read More First Virtual ORL Frontiers Draws an International Audience
Tumor. A small word that elicits big feelings. Carolyn Naman’s world turned upside down when her doctor explained one of her parathyroids had developed a benign tumor and would need to be removed. That marked the beginning of a long...
Read More Second Time’s a Charm
Otolaryngologist Luke I. Burke, MD, has joined the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth as an assistant professor. Dr. Burke received his medical degree at the State University of New York at Stony Brook,...
Read More ORL Department Adds an Otorhinolaryngologist in the Greater Heights Area
Zhen “Jane” Huang, MD, MBA, was named by her peers among Super Doctors Rising Stars® in Texas. Following an extensive independent nomination and research process, the results were published online at www.superdoctors.com. The Super Doctors Rising Stars List celebrates the...
Read More Dr. Zhen “Jane” Huang Named a 2020 Texas Super Doctors Rising Star
Martin J. Citardi, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, has been named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor for 2020. He has earned the designation every year since 2013....
Read More Dr. Martin J. Citardi Named Among Castle Connolly Top Doctors for 2020
Medical practices around the country are balancing the need to provide necessary care while minimizing risk to patients and health care personnel. Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, Martin J. Citardi, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head...
Read More Providing Safe Otorhinolaryngology Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Angela Smith had long suffered from nasal obstruction and a nonstop runny nose that disrupted her sleep. Medical therapy and nasal dilator strips failed to improve her nasal congestion. After receiving information about the availability of the VivAer® nasal airway...
Read More Minimally Invasive Nasal Remodeling Procedure Allows Patients with Obstruction to Breathe More Easily
Douglas Stanley, MD, was named by his peers among Super Doctors Rising Stars® in Texas. Following an extensive independent nomination and research process, the results have been published online at www.superdoctors.com. The Super Doctors Rising Stars List celebrates the best...
Read More Dr. Douglas Stanley Named a 2020 Texas Super Doctors Rising Star
Ronda Alexander, MD, an assistant professor and director of residency training in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, has been named to Castle Connolly’s Exceptional Women in Medicine. Dr. Alexander was recruited in...
Read More Dr. Ronda Alexander Named Among Exceptional Women in Medicine
Often it’s the little things that give a patient the courage to carry on with a tough treatment. Spike Sturdivant found the medical and moral support he needed in otorhinolaryngologist Amber Luong, MD, PhD, and radiation oncologist Angel Blanco, MD,...
Read More Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma (NPC): Treating a Rare, Aggressive Tumor with Skill and Compassion
For a decade, UT Physicians ENT specialists have held no-cost cancer screenings as part of Oral, Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week, which is April 13-19. Due to COVID-19 and the practice of social distancing, we are not able to...
Read More Oral, Head, & Neck Cancer Awareness Week
William C. Yao, MD, was named by his peers among Super Doctors Rising Stars® in Texas for the third consecutive year. Following an extensive independent nomination and research process, the results were published online at www.superdoctors.com. The Super Doctors Rising...
Read More Dr. William Yao Named a 2020 Texas Super Doctors Rising Star
Martin J. Citardi, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, has been named vice dean for clinical technology, a new position at UTHealth. In his new role he is...
Read More Dr. Martin Citardi Appointed Vice Dean for Clinical Technology at UTHealth
To have oropharyngeal cancer once and be cured without radiation therapy is more than luck. It is the sign of an attentive patient, a responsive physician and quick action. To have a recurrence four years later, and once again avoid...
Read More Active Vigilance Enables Surgery-only Treatment of Oropharyngeal Cancer
Otolaryngologist Fernando Gomez-Rivera, MD, has joined the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. Dr. Gomez-Rivera received his medical degree at Universidad La Salle in Mexico City, followed by residency in general surgery at the...
Read More UTHealth Department of Otorhinolaryngology Adds a Generalist at Memorial Hermann Southeast Hospital
The Houston medical community attended an open house last December to celebrate the move of the Texas Center for Facial Plastic Surgery to the 20th floor of the Memorial Hermann Medical Plaza. Led by chief of facial plastic and reconstructive...
Read More Texas Center for Facial Plastic Surgery Relocates to New Expanded Office Space
Alisha Alfred was at work on the Spirit Airlines baggage crew at George Bush Intercontinental Airport as they started to offload luggage from an arriving flight. “I was reaching for a bag and my scarf got stuck in the conveyor...
Read More Saving a Severed Larynx
Facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon W. Katherine Kao, MD, has joined the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. Dr. Kao received her medical degree at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University...
Read More Katherine Kao, MD, Facial Plastic Surgeon, Joins UTHealth & Memorial Hermann
Outstanding outcomes in otorhinolaryngology surgery are the result of close collaboration between the anesthesiologists and surgeons who operate together in a very small, shared space. At McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, otorhinolaryngologists work with a team of anesthesiologists who specialize...
Read More Operating Room Collaboration Between Otorhinolaryngology and Anesthesiology
Internationally recognized rhinologist Martin J. Citardi, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School, does his utmost to help patients with nasal polyps avoid sinus surgery. That commitment has led him to...
Read More New Nonsurgical Treatments for Nasal Polyps Help Patients Breathe Again
Martin J. Citardi, MD; Amber Luong, MD, PhD; Tang Ho, MD; Ibrahim “Trey” Alava III, MD; and Sancak Yuksel, MD, have been named by their peers as Super Doctors® in Texas. Super Doctors are selected through a rigorous process that...
Read More Five ORL Faculty Members Named Texas Super Doctors
Residents in the Department of Emergency Medicine at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth named their otorhinolaryngology counterparts the “Best Emergency Consultants” for 2019. The award, instituted this year by graduating emergency medicine residents, recognizes the ER consultants “who are most...
Read More ORL Residents Named Best Emergency Consultants
Katherine Davis* is not sure which came first: her sinus infections or the depression. “It’s a tangled thing beginning in childhood and continuing through my life,” she says. She had her first sinus infection before she was 10, followed by...
Read More The Link Between Chronic Rhinosinusitis and Depression
Martin J. Citardi, MD; Amber Luong, MD, PhD; and Soham Roy, MD, have been named among Best Doctors® for 2019. Since 1989, Best Doctors has conducted one of the largest ongoing peer physician polls in health care to identify the...
Read More Three ORL Faculty Members Named Among Best Doctors
Zhen “Jane” Huang, MD, MBA; Kunal Jain, MD; and Zi Yang Jiang, MD, were named by their peers as Super Doctors Rising Stars in Texas. Following an extensive independent nomination and research process, the results were published in Texas Monthly...
Read More Three ORL Faculty Members Named Texas Super Doctors Rising Stars
The ability to smell adds immeasurably to our experience of life and the way we relate to our surroundings. When Larry Simmons lost his sense of smell, he also lost the ability to taste. Both senses dimmed gradually over the...
Read More Cherry-on-Top Surgery Helps Larry Simmons Smell and Taste Again
Otorhinolaryngology (ORL) is a highly specialized discipline dependent on OR support staff who are knowledgeable about the advanced procedures and instruments used by physicians during surgery. Thanks in part to the proficiency of nurses and surgical technologists at Memorial Hermann-Texas...
Read More Otorhinolaryngology OR Team Contributes to Successful Outcomes
Ibrahim “Trey” Alava III, MD, FACS, has been promoted to associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. Dr. Alava is chief of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at Harris Health Lyndon...
Read More Dr. Ibrahim Alava Promoted to Associate Professor
Amber U. Luong, MD, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, has been named to Castle Connolly’s Exceptional Women in Medicine. A practicing rhinologist, Dr. Luong directs the department’s...
Read More Dr. Amber Luong Named Among Exceptional Women in Medicine
When Douglas Stanley, MD, first examined Cheryel Olin, she complained of continuous postnasal drip. She had been diagnosed with nearly continuous sinus infections, and received one round of antibiotics and steroids after another—without benefit. “For a year my voice sounded...
Read More Intranasal Cryoablation: A Breakthrough for Postnasal Drip and Chronic Rhinitis
Surgeons in the department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth have performed more than 2,500 thyroid and parathyroid surgeries since 2009, ranking them among the top high-volume centers in the country. The surgeries were performed at Memorial Hermann-Texas...
Read More Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at UTHealth Ranks as a High-volume Thyroid and Parathyroid Center
In the 2018-19 academic year, Ronda Alexander, MD, celebrated her 10th anniversary as a faculty member in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. Dr. Alexander, an assistant professor and director of residency training,...
Read More Dr. Ronda Alexander Celebrates a Decade of Success at UTHealth
Amber Luong, MD, PhD, associate professor and research director in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, was an invited keynote speaker at the 2019 Australian Society of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery (ASOHNS)...
Read More Dr. Amber Luong Invited as Keynote Speaker to the Australian Society of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery
In a surgical procedure performed at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, otorhinolaryngologist Ron Karni, MD, and gastroenterologist Nirav Thosani, MD, opened a complete esophageal stenosis for patient Bennie Richardson. The two physicians are known for their skill and for helping patients...
Read More UTHealth Otorhinolaryngology and Gastroenterology Collaborate to Open an Esophagus Closed by Cancer
The rare autoimmune disorder called granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), formerly known as Wegener’s granulomatosis, may develop suddenly or emerge over a period of months. In the case of 55-year-old Mark Phillips, the condition came on as symptoms of sudden, recurrent...
Read More Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis: Confirmation of a Rare Diagnosis
Amber U. Luong, MD, PhD, celebrated her 10th anniversary as a faculty member of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. Now an associate professor, Dr. Luong joined the department as an assistant professor to establish its...
Read More Dr. Amber Luong Celebrates 10 Years of Accomplishments at UTHealth
Martin J. Citardi, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth and chief of otorhinolaryngology at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, was an honored guest lecturer at ORL Horizons 2019: The...
Read More Dr. Martin J. Citardi Serves as Faculty at ORL Horizons 2019
Following renal failure and four years of dialysis, 26-year-old Kayla Williams, LVN, of Caldwell, Texas, developed secondary hyperparathyroidism with severe bone pain. She is the beneficiary of closely coordinated interdisciplinary care delivered by physicians affiliated with the Kidney and Kidney/Pancreas...
Read More After Long-term Dialysis and a Kidney Transplant, Kayla Williams Gets Her Life Back
As an undergraduate in speech and hearing sciences, Caryn McLellan participated in a research study on the effects of background noise on hearing. She discovered how tiring it is to decipher speech from noise over a long period of listening....
Read More Profile: Caryn McLellan, AuD, ABAC, PASC, CCC-A
Vivek John, MD, and Bailey LeConte, MD, residents in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, have been awarded American Academy of Otolaryngic Allergy Foundation (AAOA) Research Awards. Funding for the awards begins in...
Read More Two ORL Residents Awarded AAOA Foundation Research Awards
Martin J. Citardi, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth and chief of otorhinolaryngology at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, was an invited faculty member at the 10th Singapore Allergy...
Read More Dr. Martin J. Citardi Serves as Faculty at SARC in Singapore
After chemotherapy and radiation therapy for nasopharyngeal cancer, Esther Urdiales had an unusually complicated recovery of her ability to swallow. “Esther’s story is one of victory through our collaboration with TIRR Memorial Hermann’s Speech Therapy Program,” says Ron Karni, MD,...
Read More Esther’s Heroes: A Story of Hope and Cancer Survivorship
A study by physicians in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth suggests that depression may be underdiagnosed in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). In a paper presented at the American Rhinologic Society, the researchers assessed the...
Read More The Importance of Depression Screening in Rhinology Practice
Kevin Caceres, MD, and Brett Jensen, MD, have completed their residencies in otorhinolaryngology-head and neck surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. Dr. Caceres began a fellowship in facial plastic surgery at Facial Plastic Surgery Associates in Houston, working with...
Read More Congratulations to Our 2019 Graduating Residents
Karim Asi, MD; Jumah Ahmad, MD; and Sean P. McKee, MD, have joined the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth as first-year residents in July 2019. “We interviewed 60 candidates this year, and these...
Read More ORL Department Welcomes Three New Residents
“Our minds can be our worst enemy,” said Raquel Butanda. “I have been thinking about this all week.” Surrounded by family, Butanda was one of nearly 130 people who checked in for the no-cost screenings offered by UT Physicians for...
Read More When in Doubt, Seek Answers
William Gonzalez, a junior at Aldine High School, will no longer have to strain to hear his teachers thanks to a new set of hearing aids donated by the MicroSeismic oilfield services company as part of a partnership with UT...
Read More MicroSeismic, UT Physicians Make Sound Investment In Children With Hearing Loss
Amber Luong, MD, PhD, a fellowship-trained physician-scientist, has been awarded a 2019 Edmund Prince Fowler Award for her research on induction of Interleukin-33 cytokine expression in chronic rhinosinusitis. Dr. Luong is an associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and...
Read More Dr. Amber Luong Recognized with Triological Society’s Edmund Prince Fowler Award for Basic Science Research
Alexander G. Chiu, MD, the Russell E. Bridwell, MD Endowed Chair and Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Kansas, was the guest of honor at ORL Frontiers 2019, held June 28, 2019...
Read More Dr. Alex Chiu Speaks at ORL Frontiers 2019
Identical twins Sergio and Jorge Rodriguez like the same things – playing soccer, baseball and riding their bikes. They were born on Nov. 13, 2013, with the same type of hearing loss. Thanks to the surgical skill of Zi Yang...
Read More Bilateral Cochlear Implants for Rodriguez Twins
An accurate diagnosis and effective treatment dramatically improved the life of 75-year-old Ed Dickerson, whose off-and-on history of nasal congestion goes back to his childhood. When Dickerson moved to Houston in 1990, his congestion became worse, but eventually he was...
Read More Minimally Invasive Surgery Provides Quick Relief of Sinusitis Caused by a Dental Infection
The Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth offered three free cancer screening clinics last April in observance of Oral, Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week, sponsored by the Head and Neck Cancer Alliance. “Oral,...
Read More UTHealth Otorhinolaryngology’s Annual Head and Neck Cancer Screening Reaches from the Texas Medical Center to Houston’s Suburbs
Tang Ho, MD, chief of facial plastic and reconstructive surgery in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, has been named to Castle Connolly’s list of top doctors for the second consecutive year. The Top Doctors series of books and...
Read More Dr. Tang Ho Among Castle Connolly Top Doctors for 2019
When Kathleen Sibirtzeff went for her periodic dental checkup in April 2018, her dentist discovered what turned out to be a benign tumor of the soft palate. “I could see it and it felt a little pillowy on the upper...
Read More Four-Handed Surgery: Robotic Excision of Benign Tumor of the Soft Palate and Reconstruction
In most countries the number of women entering STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) as undergraduates is equal to or greater than the number of men. But it is generally acknowledged in the literature that women in these fields...
Read More Dr. Amber Luong Spearheads International Day of Women and Girls in Science Symposium at UTHealth
The role of microbes in fueling the inflammatory process of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) remains an area of active study in rhinology. Although cultures traditionally have been used to identify bacteria present in the paranasal sinuses, microbiome bioinformatics technology now allows...
Read More Analysis of Sinonasal Microbiome in Exacerbations of Chronic Rhinosinusitis Subgroups
Kunal Jain, MD, and William C. Yao, MD, were named by their peers as Super Doctors Rising Stars® in Texas. Following an extensive independent nomination and research process, the results will be published in the July 2019 issue of Texas...
Read More Two ORL Specialists Named 2019 Super Doctors Rising Stars
Joy Helminski was first diagnosed with sleep apnea six years ago and was prescribed a CPAP. With her small features, she had difficulty finding a mask to fit her face. “My doctor said I’d have more energy, feel better, and...
Read More Hypoglossal Nerve Stimulation for Patients Who Can’t Tolerate CPAP
Alexander G. Chiu, MD, will be the guest of honor at ORL Frontiers 2019, which will be held on Friday, June 28, 2019 in the Fayez S. Sarofim Research Building, the site of the Brown Foundation Institute for Molecular Medicine....
Read More Dr. Alex Chiu to Speak at ORL Frontiers 2019
Martin J. Citardi, MD; Tang Ho, MD; Amber U. Luong, MD, PhD; Sancak Yuksel, MD; and Ronda Alexander, MD, were named by their peers as Texas Super Doctors®, following an extensive independent nomination and research process involving more than 40,000...
Read More Five ORL Faculty Named Texas Super Doctors
Rhinologist and anterior skull base surgeon William C. Yao, MD, was a visiting professor and invited lecturer at Jiangsu Subei People’s Hospital and Yangzhou University Clinical Medical School in Yangzhou, China. He is an assistant professor in the Department of...
Read More Dr. William Yao Serves as Visiting Professor in Yangzhou, China
Lymphedema research at UTHealth has led to new knowledge and innovative treatments for head and neck cancer patients after surgery and radiation therapy. Carey Hatfield, 59, is among the patients to benefit from the researchers’ elucidation of internal lymphedema and...
Read More Innovations in the Treatment of Lymphedema in Head and Neck Cancer Patients
UT Physicians otorhinolaryngologists (ENT surgeons) are offering no-cost oral, head and neck cancer screenings at three locations across Greater Houston: UT Physicians Otorhinolaryngology – Texas Medical Center 6400 Fannin St., Suite 2700, Houston, 77030 Thursday, April 11, 2:00 pm-4:00 pm...
Read More No-Cost Oral, Head and Neck Cancer Screenings
Medical students and residents in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth presented six posters at the Society for ENT Advances in Children (SENTAC) annual meeting held Nov. 29 – Dec. 2, 2018, in...
Read More UTHealth Medical Students and Residents Give Presentations at 2018 International SENTAC Meeting
Two weeks after having balloon eustachian tuboplasty, Robin Goebel was on a flight to South America, where she hiked at high altitudes, visiting Machu Picchu at 7,970 feet and Cusco at 11,152 feet, and took 13 different flights to places...
Read More Balloon Eustachian Tuboplasty for Chronic Eustachian Tube Dysfunction
Pediatric otolaryngologist Zi Yang Jiang, MD, is one of 30 McGovern Society leaders who mentor new medical students, helping them develop a sense of responsibility for their own wellness, resilience, and professionalism as they work toward graduation from McGovern Medical...
Read More McGovern Society Leaders Give Students a Roadmap Through Medical School
Born in Vietnam, Amber U. Luong, MD, PhD, was 3 in April 1975 when her family left the country the day before the fall of Saigon. Last March, the fellowship-trained physician-scientist sinus surgeon had the opportunity to return to her...
Read More Without Borders: Dr. Amber Luong Joins a Mission to Vietnam
UT Physicians is now offering an alternative therapy for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) when traditional approaches fail. The first six cases in Houston have provided a transformational, life-changing solution for people seeking a restful, healthy night of sleep. The new...
Read More First in Houston to Offer a New Treatment for Obstructive Sleep Apnea
By asking cancer patients what they want, physicians in the Head and Neck Surgical Oncology Program at Memorial Hermann and UTHealth have designed a truly patient-centered experience. “Treatment of head and neck cancer requires so many moving parts, and none...
Read More Head and Neck Surgical Oncology: How Do We Make the Experience Better for the Patient?
Pediatric otolaryngologist Sancak Yuksel, MD joined a team of otolaryngologists, nurses, audiologists, and speech pathologists supported by Oklahoma-based Mayflower Medical Outreach (MMO), and traveled to the mountain towns of Jinotega and Estelí, Nicaragua, to evaluate adult and pediatric patients and perform...
Read More On a Mission: Dr. Yuksel Returns to Nicaragua
Repeated bouts of strep throat and suspected tonsillitis led Shelby Boatwright’s primary care physician to refer her to William C. Yao, MD, an assistant professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery in McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. Boatwright’s...
Read More When It Isn’t Tonsillitis
“Augmented reality, which uses 3-D mapping and imagery, enhances our understanding of complex anatomy so surgical procedures are more precise,” said Martin J. Citardi, MD, chair of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at The...
Read More UT Physicians Sinus Surgeons Use Augmented Reality Technology During Minimally Invasive Sinus Procedures.
The Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth now offers comprehensive care in southeast Houston. Staffed by Michael Byrd, MD and J. Caleb Simmons, MD the department’s community practice coordinates care for adult, adolescent and pediatric patients...
Read More ENT Doctors at UT Physicians Provide Comprehensive ENT Care in Southeast Houston
Finding a tiny tumor in a field of scar or localizing an ectopic parathyroid before primary surgery is like searching for a needle in a haystack. Neuroradiologists affiliated with Memorial Hermann and UTHealth were early adopters of four-dimensional CT imaging...
Read More Revision Parathyroidectomy Using 4D CT for Localization
Aniruddha (“Alok”) Patki, MD, has joined the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery as assistant professor of otology and neurotology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. A Diplomate of the American Board of Otolaryngology, he will serve as an attending...
Read More Otologist-Neurotologist Joins Memorial Hermann and UTHealth
Amy Martin chose nursing as a career when she was 8 years old, dressed as a pumpkin. “It was Halloween and my mom’s best friend was an ER nurse at Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital,” she recalls. “This was back when...
Read More Meet Amy Martin, MSN, APRN, ACNP-BC, CCRN, Newest Member of the ORL Team
William C. Yao, MD, and Kunal Jain, MD, were named by their peers as Super Doctors Rising Stars® in Texas. Following an extensive independent nomination and research process, the results were published in the June 2018 issue of Texas Monthly...
Read More Two ORL Specialists Named 2018 Super Doctors Rising Stars
The Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth was the first site in the United States for the innovative Acclarent Navigation System. Among the first patients treated using the new system was Herbert Ross, a...
Read More Herbert Ross: Among the First in the U. S. to Benefit from a New Surgical Navigation System
Two UTHealth otorhinolaryngology residents were among four Houston-area residents invited to present their research during the Houston Society of Otolaryngology’s annual resident scientific research meeting. Fifth-year resident Uma Ramaswamy, MD, and fourth-year resident Laura Vandelaar, MD, presented papers at the...
Read More UTHealth Otorhinolaryngology Residents Named HSO Resident Scientific Research Winners
Ibrahim “Trey” Alava, MD; William C. Yao, MD; and Sancak Yuksel, MD, have been recognized with McGovern Medical School’s 2018 Dean’s Teaching Excellence Awards. All three physicians have a track record of outstanding commitment to educating the next generation of...
Read More Dr. Ibrahim Alava, Dr. William Yao and Dr. Sancak Yuksel Receive Dean’s Teaching Excellence Awards
The Department of Otorhinolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth offered four free cancer screening clinics last April in observance of Oral, Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week, sponsored by the Head and Neck Cancer Alliance. “Oral,...
Read More UT Physicians Otorhinolaryngology Expands Its Annual Head and Neck Cancer Screening from the Texas Medical Center to Houston Suburbs
By the time she arrived in the office of rhinologist Martin J. Citardi, MD, Carrie Owen had lost her senses of smell and taste. Her allergist in College Station, Texas, had referred her to Houston, to the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head...
Read More Carrie Owen Benefits from a New Minimally Invasive In-office Treatment for Nasal Polyposis
Former Houstonian Kelly Krohn was among the first to benefit from a relatively new solution for nasal airway obstruction symptoms – the LATERA® absorbable nasal implant. The implant was released in 2016, followed by clinical data published in the April...
Read More Breathing Better After Surgery and Novel Implant
Six members of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery have been selected as Houstonia Top Doctors by physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners in Greater Houston in the magazine’s sixth annual survey, the results of which were published in...
Read More Six ORL Specialists Named Houstonia Top Doctors for 2018
Each year, otorhinolaryngology residents of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth have the opportunity to name the faculty member who has made the greatest impact on their learning experience. This year, the ORL...
Read More Dr. Amber Luong Selected Faculty Member of the Year by ORL Residents
Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center’s Otorhinolaryngology Service holds the 19th spot in the nation among hospitals that provide adult ENT care, according to U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospital rankings for 2018-2019. The annual rankings, now in their 29th year,...
Read More Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center Ranked Among the Top 20 Nationally in Adult ENT Care by US News & World Report
A new cochlear implant is helping 3-year-old Bellemere Hernandez hear for the first time. The toddler faces several disorders caused by a genetic syndrome. Krishna Hernandez, Bellemere’s mother, says her pregnancy was normal but as soon as her daughter was...
Read More Toddler Enjoys Sound of Success
More than 70 physicians and other health care professionals attended 2018 ORL Frontiers, an annual CME event that highlights emerging technology in the diagnosis and management of common otolaryngologic clinical problems and the research productivity of members of the Department...
Read More UTHealth Sponsors 2018 ORL Frontiers
Uma Ramaswamy, MD, and Matthew A. Tyler, MD, have completed their residencies in otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. Dr. Ramaswamy has begun a pediatric otolaryngology fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. Dr....
Read More Congratulations to Our 2018 Graduating Residents
Sinus surgeons with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) and Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center were the first in the United States to use augmented reality technology during minimally invasive sinus procedures. “Augmented reality, which uses 3-D...
Read More UTHealth/Memorial Hermann Conduct First Sinus Surgery in U.S. Using Augmented Reality Technology
In most cases, Zenker’s diverticula are spontaneous and occur in people over the age of 60. More complicated cases of the pharyngeal pouch, which makes swallowing very difficult, can occur in patients with scarring from surgery or radiation to the...
Read More Treating Esophageal Diverticula: Life-changing Surgeries for Two Patients
William C. Yao, MD, was guest editor of “Surgical Techniques of Emergencies in Otolaryngology,” in recent issue of Operative Techniques in Otolaryngology. Dr. Yao, who specializes in rhinology and anterior skull base surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth and...
Read More Dr. William Yao Serves as Guest Editor of Otolaryngology Journal
As he grew older, 42-year-old Jon Balter developed severe chronic rhinitis and sought help from allergists and ENTs for nearly a decade. After trying allergy shots and a variety of medications without success, he was referred by his allergist to...
Read More Breakthrough Treatment for Chronic Rhinitis & Postnasal Drip
Otorhinolaryngologists, pulmonary intensivists and critical care nurses work hand in hand to treat adult patients with complex conditions in the new ENT Intensive Care Unit at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center. The 10-bed unit serves the academic medical center’s rapidly expanding...
Read More Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center Opens the First Dedicated ENT ICU in Houston
Medical students José Ting, Margaret Engelhardt, and Brandon Esianor, BS, were invited to present the results of their research at the Triological Society Combined Sections Meeting held January 18-20, 2018, in Scottsdale, Arizona. Since its founding more than 120 years...
Read More Three UTHealth Medical Students Invited to Present at Triological Society Meeting
Nine posters were presented by medical students and residents from the McGovern Medical School Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the Society for ENT Advances in Children (SENTAC) annual meeting held December 1-3, 2017, in Toronto, Canada. As an...
Read More UTHealth Medical Students Make Presentations at International SENTAC Meeting
“It was one of the best days of my life,” says Miriam Green in an emotionally charged voice. “I wish everyone could experience how I felt that day. I found myself again.” The journey to that life-changing day began when...
Read More Miriam’s Journey to Sound
Steven Marc Zeitels, MD, is the invited speaker for ORL Frontiers 2018, which will be held Saturday, June 23, at the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), and sponsored...
Read More Save the Date: Dr. Steven Zeitels to Speak at ORL Frontiers Next Month
Amber U. Luong, MD, PhD, associate professor of otorhinolaryngology, has been recognized with the 2017 Helen F. Krause, MD Memorial Trailblazer Award. Granted by the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, the award is bestowed upon a Women in...
Read More Amber Luong, MD, PhD Recognized as Trailblazer
Sixty-six-year-old Norman Theeck is a rarity. A long-term survivor after treatment for invasive fungal rhinosinusitis, he beat the slim odds of survival with the help of Martin J. Citardi, MD, chair of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at...
Read More Norman Theeck Makes a Comeback from Invasive Fungal Rhinosinusitis
Douglas Stanley, MD, has joined the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth and the medical staff of Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Medical Center. A native of Odessa, Texas, Dr. Stanley received his medical degree...
Read More Dr. Douglas Stanley Joins UTHealth and Memorial Hermann
The Audiology team at UT Physicians Otorhinolaryngology-Texas Medical Center held a well-attended, day-long open house for individuals in the community living with hearing loss. “As always, our top priority is to diagnose, treat and educate people with hearing loss to...
Read More Audiology Open House a Success
Mark your calendars for the McGovern Medical School Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery’s two-day CME meeting in the Texas Hill Country–2018 Texas Hill Country ENT Symposium. The event will focus on evidence-based treatments for common diseases and disorders of...
Read More Texas Hill Country ENT Symposium Scheduled for April 2018
When J. Caleb Simmons, MD, started medical school, he thought he might be a pediatrician. Today as an otolaryngologist, nearly half of his practice is pediatric. “I enjoy kids, so it’s great to have them as a significant part of...
Read More Branchial Cleft Cyst Resection: A Pediatric Patient Benefits from Texas Medical Center Expertise and the Convenience of Follow-up ENT Care in Southeast Houston
Otolaryngologist Michael Byrd, MD, has been recognized as 2017 Physician of the Year at Memorial Hermann Southeast Hospital, a 274-bed facility serving families in the Bay Area of Houston. Prior to being named Physician of the Year, he served a...
Read More Dr. Michael Byrd Named 2017 Physician of the Year at Memorial Hermann Southeast Hospital
More than 80 physicians participated in Lone Star Rhinology 2017, an intensive two-day CME program dedicated to the study of issues in nasal and sinus disorders. Guests of honor at 2017 Lone Star Rhinology were Pete S. Batra, MD (Rush...
Read More 2017 Lone Star Rhinology Course Recap
Between the 4th and 8th grades, Kaci Mueller suffered repeated ear infections and underwent more than 10 surgeries for cholesteatoma, including a canal wall down tympanomastoidectomy. Today, thanks to the skill of two expert practitioners in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head...
Read More Small, Smart Technology Opens a World of Sound for Kaci Mueller
Two of the nation’s top otorhinolaryngologists practice at UT Physicians, the clinical practice of McGovern Medical School at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). Martin J. Citardi, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology...
Read More Citardi and Luong Named to Best Doctors List for Otorhinolaryngology
With a 50 percent increase in faculty in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth over the last three years and the resulting growth in patient visits, a redesign of the UT Physicians Otorhinolaryngology-Texas...
Read More UT Physicians Otolaryngology at Texas Medical Center Clinic Redesign Improves the Patient Experience
Revision endoscopic sinus surgery presents challenges not often seen in primary surgeries. Rhinologists at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center and McGovern Medical School at UTHealth routinely treat refractory conditions in patients from Houston as well as the entire state of Texas....
Read More Revision Sinus Surgery Sets the Stage for a Successful Outcome
By Wednesday, Ronda Alexander, MD, knew the storm was going to hit Houston. It would turn out to be the worst hurricane in the city’s history. An assistant professor in the department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at UTHealth’s McGovern...
Read More Under Pressure: On Call During Hurricane Harvey
When dissolvable, slow-release steroid implants are placed in the newly created opening of the frontal sinuses of sinus surgery patients, these sinus passages stay open longer and have less inflammation, according to a multicenter clinical trial led by a researcher...
Read More Dissolvable Steroid Implant May Improve Sinus Surgery Outcomes
Martin J. Citardi, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at UTHealth’s McGovern Medical School in Houston, was honored with the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery’s (AAO-HNS) Distinguished Service Award (DSA) this past...
Read More Dr. Martin Citardi Recognized with AAO-HNS Distinguished Service Award
Rhinologic surgeons in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth are among the first in the nation to use NuCalm® for natural stress relief during office-based nasal and sinus procedures. Used by dentists to promote...
Read More Non-Pharmacologic Relaxation Therapy for In-office ENT Procedures
When Ronda Alexander, MD agreed to switch call with a colleague, she had no idea the change would end up putting her on-call and trapped in the hospital during the worst natural disaster to hit Houston this century. Dr. Alexander,...
Read More Houston Otolaryngologist Battles Hurricane Harvey
Much of otorhinolaryngology is detective work. Like good sleuthing, successful practice demands profound knowledge, honed investigative skills, persistence and a measure of artistry. In the case of Gail Abeita, diagnosis and treatment of lifelong hearing loss required all of these...
Read More Reversing Hearing Loss: A Fresh Start for Gail Abeita
Rhinologic surgeons at the McGovern Medical School at UTHealth were the first in the United States to use a new surgical navigation platform introduced by Acclarent, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company. “The new navigation platform has several unique features,”...
Read More UTHealth ORL is the First in the U.S. to Use New Sinus Navigation System
By the time 31-year-old Marcus King saw Ron Karni, MD, and Kunal Jain, MD, the ameloblastoma encompassed the majority of his left jaw, resulting in extreme asymmetry of his face. In a 12-hour surgery, the two surgeons worked together to...
Read More Virtual Presurgical Planning Optimizes the Outcome for a Patient with Ameloblastoma
Amber Luong, MD, PhD, associate professor of otorhinolaryngology, has been recognized with the 2017 Helen F. Krause, MD Memorial Trailblazer Award granted by the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (AAO). The award is bestowed upon a Women in...
Read More Dr. Amber Luong Receives 2017 Helen F. Krause, MD Memorial Trailblazer Award
Each year, the faculty of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth recognizes an outstanding resident, and residents have the opportunity to name the faculty member they feel has made the greatest impact on...
Read More Dr. William Yao Selected Faculty Member of the Year by ORL Residents
Soham Roy, MD, FACS, FAAP, Ibrahim “Trey” Alava, MD, and William C. Yao, MD, have been recognized with McGovern Medical School at UTHealth’s 2017 Dean’s Teaching Excellence Awards. All three physicians have a track record of outstanding commitment to educating...
Read More Dr. Soham Roy, Dr. William Yao and Dr. Ibrahim Alava Receive Dean’s Teaching Excellence Awards
The Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at UTHealth’s McGovern Medical School is proud to sponsor 2017 Lone Star Rhinology and Rhinoplasty, a four-day CME meeting in Houston, TX. The course will feature two consecutive two-day CME events from Friday,...
Read More Save the Date! Lone Star Rhinology and Rhinoplasty Course Scheduled for November
More than 70 physicians and other healthcare professionals attended ORL Frontiers 2017, held last June at the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and sponsored by the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head...
Read More ORL Frontiers 2017 Recap
Amber U. Luong, MD, PhD, associate professor of otorhinolaryngology and research director for the department, has been recognized with the 2017 Clinical Excellence Award by the Women Faculty Forum at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. A founding member of the...
Read More Dr. Amber Luong Recognized for Clinical Excellence by UTHealth’s Women Faculty Forum
Two weeks before her wedding, 27-year-old Leslie Horne was driving from her new home in Fulshear to a friend’s house in Magnolia, about an hour away. She never arrived. “I don’t remember that day or the accident at all,” she...
Read More Ossicular Chain Reconstruction: A Home Run for Leslie Horne After a Devastating Auto Accident
Eulice Vial is a woman of many talents. She’s a singer with a rare three-octave range, an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, artist and painter, and a costume designer and seamstress who has sewn more than 100 elaborate costumes for the Texas Renaissance...
Read More Eulice Vial’s Christmas Miracle: A Singer Regains Her Voice
Three members of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth were named by local physicians and healthcare consumers to H Texas magazine’s annual listing of Top Doctors in Houston. They are Martin J. Citardi,...
Read More Three ORL Specialists Named to H Texas Magazine Top Doctors List for 2017
Samantha Wild’s goal is to stay one step ahead in providing exceptional patient care always. As business officer manager for the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery and its three UT Physicians clinics, she is responsible for managing the flow of...
Read More Samantha Wild: Making the Difference in Patient Care
After an unexplained “brain glitch” led to the discovery of a large pituitary tumor, retired corrosion engineer Niell Strickland joined the ranks of patients who have benefited from the teamwork of rhinologist William Yao, MD , and neurosurgeon Spiros Blackburn,...
Read More Otorhinolaryngology and Neurosurgery Team Up to Maximize the Outcome for a Patient with Pituitary Tumor
The Audiology team at UT Physicians Otorhinolaryngology – Texas Medical Center held a well-attended, daylong open house January 12, 2017, for individuals in the community living with hearing loss. In addition to free hearing screenings and hearing-aid consultations, the department...
Read More Audiology Open House
UT Physicians Otorhinolaryngology – Texas Medical Center, which is staffed by faculty members in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology—Head & Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, offered a free cancer screening clinic on Apr. 7, 2017, in observance of...
Read More UT Physicians Otorhinolaryngology Holds Annual Free Cancer Screening Clinic
Peter J. Koltai, MD will be the guest speaker at Otorhinolaryngology Frontiers 2017, which highlights research endeavors and emerging technology in the diagnosis and management of common otolaryngologic clinical problems. More than 70 physicians and other healthcare professionals are expected...
Read More Stanford Professor Peter Koltai to Speak at ORL Frontiers 2017
Pediatric otolaryngologist Sancak Yuksel, MD has provided care for Jayda Hector since shortly after she was born in October 2010 at just 26 weeks’ gestation. After 12 trips to the OR at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital, the six-year-old girl was...
Read More Laryngotracheal Reconstruction: A Long-awaited Resolution for Jayda Hector
Michael Byrd, MD has been elected chief of surgery at Memorial Hermann Southeast Hospital, a 274-bed facility serving families in the Bay Area of Houston. Dr. Byrd began a one-year term in January 2017. As chief of surgery, Dr. Byrd...
Read More Dr. Michael Byrd Named Chief of Surgery
Ibrahim “Trey” Alava, MD, an assistant professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, has been selected by his peers as a Super Doctors® Rising Star in Texas. Following an extensive independent nomination...
Read More Dr. Ibrahim Alava Recognized as a Texas Super Doctors Rising Star
As we ended last year and began to contemplate our priorities for the current year, we reviewed ORL Progress Notes, which was first released in 2008. Our newsletter has had both print and email distribution; however, over the past several...
Read More Introducing ORL Notes
It’s not uncommon for patients to continue to have breathing problems after undergoing various procedures for obstructive sleep apnea and snoring. Among those who failed to find relief from prior surgeries, including maxillomandibular advancement (MMA), is 56-year-old Rick Smith, who...
Read More Beyond Septoplasty and Turbinate Reduction: Correction of Nasal Valve Stenosis Adds Synergy to the Mix
On Easter Sunday 2016, three-year-old Ishaan Pavuluri was with his family at a pool party at the home of a friend. After an Easter egg hunt, his mother, Deepthi Bollu, was inside helping Ishaan and his older brother change into...
Read More Ishaan Pavuluri Makes a Comeback
Kevin and Karla Urrutia were born at term, but as twins they were both underweight – the boy weighing in at 4 pounds 10 ounces and the girl at 4 pounds 15 ounces. “Karla was eating fine after birth, but...
Read More Supraglottoplasty for Neonatal Laryngomalacia
Six members of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery have been selected by their peers as Super Doctors® in Texas. Following an extensive independent nomination and research process, the results were published in the June 2016 issue of Texas...
Read More Eight ORL Specialists Named to Top Doctors Lists for 2016
Martin J. Citardi, MD , FACS Professor and Chair of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Dr. Citardi lectured on “Surgical Navigation: Past, Present and Future” and “Endoscopic Management of CSF Rhinorrhea” at the Endoscopic Endonasal Surgery...
Read More 2016 International Presentations
In recognition of his exemplary track record of clinical care, teaching and research, Soham Roy, MD, FACS, FAAP, has been promoted from associate professor to professor of otorhinolaryngology-head and neck surgery with tenure. Dr. Roy received his undergraduate degree with...
Read More ORL Department Announces Faculty Promotions
Sancak Yuksel, MD, an otorhinolaryngologist affiliated with Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center and an associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School, has been recognized with the medical school’s Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award for the...
Read More Dr. Yuksel and Dr. Ho Receive Dean’s Teaching Excellence Awards
A CORE research grant from the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation led to groundbreaking work in the lab, resulting in multiple manuscripts about chronic rhinosinusitis and first prize for the best resident research presentation at the May,...
Read More Resident Wins Award for Research at Houston Society of Otolaryngology Meeting
The Performance Improvement Quality Review (PIQR) Committee at Memorial Hermann Southeast Hospital has commended otolaryngologist Michael Byrd, MD, for “recognizing a good catch.” Dr. Byrd, an assistant professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at UTHealth’s McGovern Medical...
Read More Dr. Byrd Recognized by Memorial Hermann Southeast Hospital for Quality and Patient Safety
Facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon Christian Conderman, MD, who joined the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery in 2015, was elected secretary-treasurer of the Houston Society of Otolaryngology at the organization’s May meeting. Dr. Conderman was recruited to Memorial Hermann...
Read More Dr. Conderman Elected Houston Society of Otolaryngology Officer
More than 60 physicians participated in the biennial Texas Hill Country ENT Symposium, sponsored by the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at UTHealth’s McGovern Medical School. The two-day continuing medical education meeting was held last April at the Hyatt...
Read More Texas Hill Country ENT Symposium 2016 Recap
After suffering for years from severe allergic fungal rhinosinusitis, Wynard De’kavon Crawford found relief through a minimally invasive office procedure: the placement of a tiny PROPEL® mini dissolvable implant into each of his ethmoid sinuses. Physicians at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical...
Read More A Drug-eluting Stent Offers a Young Man a Small-but-Mighty Solution to a Chronic Problem
Remember, when you were a kid, twirling around and around until you fell, laughing, in the grass, while the world seemed to continue spinning around you? That delightful feeling is not so delightful when you’re an adult — and you’re...
Read More Around and Around: What’s Happening When the Spinning Just Won’t Stop?
Richard Petty doesn’t normally write laudatory letters about his physicians, but after treatment for chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), he sat down and penned one to Giuseppe Colasurdo, MD, president of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and then...
Read More The Petty Case: Setting a Good Course Through the Perfect Storm of Allergens
Oropharyngeal cancers are still relatively uncommon, but those associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) are on the rise. Kelly Jones presented as a typical case in this relatively new category of oropharyngeal cancer patient: a 43-year-old non-smoker with previously undiagnosed HPV...
Read More A Novel Lymphatic Imaging System and a Disease-focused Treatment Team Improve Survivorship in Head and Neck Cancer
Signs and symptoms of the rare autoimmune disorder called granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), formerly known as Wegener’s granulomatosis, may develop suddenly or emerge over a period of months. In the case of Gary Giles, they developed so abruptly that he...
Read More Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis: A Patient Benefits from Multidisciplinary Care
Surgery scheduling is a critical component of patient care, a complex process of coordinating patients’ personal schedules and needs, surgeons’ schedules, access to hospital facilities and insurance authorizations. If even one element of the process fails, the patient’s care plan...
Read More Behind the Scenes with the Surgery Schedulers
Last February, pediatric otolaryngologist Sancak Yuksel, MD , joined a team of otolaryngologists, nurses, audiologists and speech pathologists supported by Oklahoma-based Mayflower Medical Outreach (MMO), and traveled to the mountain towns of Jinotega and Esteli, Nicaragua, to see pediatric patients...
Read More On a Mission: Pitching in to Help Children Abroad
Sujana S. Chandrasekhar, MD, FACS, FAAO-HNS, president of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS), was the guest speaker at Otorhinolaryngology Frontiers 2015, an annual event highlighting research endeavors and emerging technology in the diagnosis and management of...
Read More AAO-HNS President Speaks at Otorhinolaryngology Frontiers 2015
Five members of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery have been selected by their peers as outstanding physicians in Texas. Following an extensive nomination and research process conducted by Key Professional Media Inc., the results were published...
Read More Seven ORL Specialists Named to Top Doctors Lists for 2015
Since her 2008 arrival at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center and the McGovern Medical School, Amber Luong, MD, PhD, FACS, has focused much of her attention on building a translational otorhinolaryngology research program from the ground up. Today, those efforts are...
Read More ORL’s 360 Research Program Translates New Laboratory Discoveries to Patient Care
After a suffering a stroke in late January 2015, 54-year-old Dale Gobert was taken to Baptist Hospital in Beaumont, Texas, where he required prolonged mechanical ventilation (and thus prolonged intubation) as part of his care. A month later, he was...
Read More ECMO Improves Care for a Critical Tracheostomy Patient
Ibrahim “Trey” Alava, MD, has been selected for fellowship status in the American College of Surgeons (ACS). An assistant professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Texas John P. and Kathrine G. McGovern Medical...
Read More Ibrahim Alava, MD, Named a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons
Ronda Alexander, MD, was an invited speaker at the Houston Community College Southwest STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) Symposium held last April on the college’s West Loop Campus. More than 300 students heard her speak on “Careers in Medicine: Making...
Read More Ronda Alexander, MD, Invited to Speak at STEM Symposium
In early June 2014, Steve Blatt was riding his motorcycle to work along the same route he’d used for nearly 40 years. It was raining, and when his front tire hit an uneven spot in the road, his bike slid...
Read More With a Bone-anchored Hearing Aid, One Good Ear Helps the Other
Last December, Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital announced the renovation and expansion of its hospital-based Emergency Department to better respond to the emergent needs of the greater Montgomery County area. “With the population growth in The Woodlands and surrounding area,...
Read More Department of Otorhinolaryngology Extends Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery Expertise to The Woodlands
A gunshot wound to the face – a random act of violence in Beaumont, Texas – forever changed the life of 21-year-old Adair Stephens. The shooting occurred late in the afternoon on a Saturday in September 2013. After being rushed...
Read More Rapid Response and Multidisciplinary Teamwork Save a Young Man’s Life
When the da Vinci® Surgical System was approved by the FDA in 2009 for transoral robotic surgery (TORS) for resection of tumors of the pharynx, UTHealth otolaryngologists affiliated with Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center were among the first in the country...
Read More Transoral Robotic Surgery for Airway Obstruction in Pediatric Patients
Kunal S. Jain, MD has joined McGovern Medical School Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. As a fellowship-trained head and neck surgeon, with specific expertise in transoral robotic surgery and microvascular reconstruction, he will add strength to the department’s rapidly...
Read More Kunal Jain, MD joins the Department’s Head and Neck Surgery Program
The UTHealth Department of Otolaryngology is proud to announce that appointment of Zi Yang Jiang, MD, as an assistant professor. Together with Soham Roy, MD and Sancak Yuksel, Dr. Jiang will expand the pediatric otolaryngology service at Children’s Memorial Hermann...
Read More Zi Yang Jiang, MD joins UTHealth Pediatric ENT Service
A good surgeon’s eye, ultrasound performed in the office and OR, and the availability of an experienced multidisciplinary team turned life around for Mary Fitts, whose past had been a series of doctor visits and undiagnosed ailments dating back to...
Read More Surgeon-performed Ultrasound Provides X-Marks-the-Spot Accuracy for Parathyroid Adenoma
By the time 39-year-old Ricky Watson saw Amber U. Luong, MD, PhD, he could no longer swallow, eat or talk. His only avenue of communication with his family was writing on a notepad or texting via cell phone. Diagnosed at...
Read More The Watson Case: An “Impossible” Surgery Makes a Night-and-Day Difference for a Patient with Proteus Syndrome
Christian Conderman, MD, has received a faculty appointment in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology. As a facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon, he will support the growing trauma service at Memorial Hermann-The Woodlands, as well as provide the full spectrum of facial...
Read More Christian Conderman, MD joins UTHealth Otorhinolaryngology at its New Woodlands Location
James Owusu, MD, has joined the UTHealth Department of Otorhinolaryngology as an assistant professor. He is fellowship-trained in facial plastic and reconstructive surgery, and he will be part of the team extending facial plastic & reconstructive surgery expertise to Memorial...
Read More James Owusu, MD joins UTHealth Otorhinolaryngology at its New Woodlands Location
In January 2014, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) released updated guidelines for graduate medical education in training programs across the United States. The new Pathways to Excellence framework is the latest development in the national rollout of...
Read More New Clinical Learning Guidelines Transform How Medical Residency Programs Prepare Future Physicians
With a diagnosis of stage 2 squamous cell carcinoma of the tonsil, Tony Lentola might have expected a treatment plan that included the traditional six weeks of radiation – and possibly chemotherapy. Thanks to a referral to Ron Karni, MD,...
Read More TORS-L Eliminates the Need for Adjuvant Therapies in an Oropharyngeal Cancer Patient
Rhinologist William C. Yao, MD, has joined Martin J. Citardi, MD, and associate professor and Amber U. Luong, MD, PhD, at the Texas Sinus Institute and Texas Skull Base Physicians. Dr. Yao has received an appointment as an assistant professor...
Read More William Yao, MD joins Texas Sinus Institute and Texas Skull Base Physicians
Sujana S. Chandrasekhar, MD, FACS, FAAO-HNS, president-elect of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS), was the guest speaker at 2015 Otorhinolaryngology Frontiers, which highlighted research endeavors and emerging technology in the diagnosis and management of common otolaryngologic...
Read More AAO-HNS President-elect to Speaks at 2015 Otorhinolaryngology Frontiers
Operating room fires pose a significant risk of harm to surgical patients, particularly in head and neck procedures involving the airway. In the cover article of the January 2015 issue of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Soham Roy, MD, FACS, FAAP,...
Read More Surgical Fire Prevention in Laser Laryngeal Surgery
In 2014, Houston-based MicroSeismic, Inc., made a $50,000 donation to the Memorial Hermann Foundation to help Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital and the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at UTHealth Medical School provide hearing aids to underserved pediatric patients in the Greater Houston...
Read More A Gift of Hearing
Many of us have a touch of “sinus” from time to time. But for Sandra Butcher, a sinus problem turned into a miserable bout of chronic rhinosinusitis. After two-and-a-half years of discomfort, medication and doctor visits, Butcher’s story ended happily...
Read More Breath of Fresh Air
Tonsillectomy is the third most common procedure performed on children in the United States – after circumcision and myringotomy with pressure-equalizing tube placement (also known as “PE tubes”) – with more than half a million annual procedures in pediatric patients...
Read More Current Pediatric Guidelines for Tonsillectomy
When José Elías was 10 years old, his mother, a Red Cross nurse, began making neighborhood house calls after hours to care for the sick in their hometown of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. She went where she was needed late in...
Read More Profile in Caring: José Elías, RN, CORLN
An immune-mediated inflammatory disease involving the paranasal sinuses, chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) affects more than 10 percent of the population and is the second most common chronic disease in the United States. Despite its high incidence, the pathogenesis of CRS remains...
Read More Amber Luong, MD, PhD, Awarded CCTS Grant in Support of Continued Chronic Rhinosinusitis Investigations
Martin J. Citardi, MD and Soham Roy, MD, FACS, FAAP, have been named among the Best Doctors in America® for 2014. An internationally recognized ear, nose and throat surgeon, Dr. Citardi is chief of otorhinolaryngology at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center and...
Read More Two ORL Faculty Members Named to Top Doctor Lists
When Vida Smith Compton first saw otorhinolaryngologist Sancak Yuksel, M.D., in late summer 2013, she had pain and swelling beneath the ventral surface of her tongue on the right side, and in her neck under the mandible. “I looked like...
Read More Sialendoscopy: An Innovative Minimally Invasive Approach to the Treatment of Sialolithiasis
Jim Finley, who has been in the newspaper business for more than 30 years, writes a humor column for the Baytown Sun, a community newspaper published five days a week in Baytown, Texas, 25 miles east of Houston. In September...
Read More Physicians’ Mission Satisfied
Jack Perrell* had no idea what he was missing until he was fitted with hearing aids. The 46-year-old information technology professional and his wife have been fostering cats for 15 years, and it wasn’t until last October, when he was...
Read More A Second Pair of Ears
Sancak Yuksel, MD, an otorhinolaryngologist affiliated with Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center and an assistant professor in the department of Otorhinolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery at UTHealth Medical School, has been recognized with the medical school’s Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award for the...
Read More Two ORL Faculty Members Receive 2014 Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award
The UTHealth Department of Otorhinolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery offered a free cancer screening clinic last April in observance of Oral, Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week, sponsored by the Head and Neck Cancer Alliance, formerly known as the Yul Brynner...
Read More More Than 100 People Participate in UTHealth Otorhinolaryngology’s Annual Free Cancer Screening Clinic
Etan Weinstock, MD, FACS, has been selected Faculty Member of the Year in the department of Otorhinolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery by graduating residents of the department. The award recognizes Dr. Weinstock’s commitment to resident education and scholarly activity. “I consider...
Read More Etan Weinstock, MD, Selected Faculty Member of the Year
Amber Luong, MD, PhD, FACS, has been selected for fellowship status in the American College of Surgeons (ACS). In recognition of her exemplary track record of clinical care, teaching and research, Dr. Luong was recently promoted from assistant professor to...
Read More Amber Luong, MD, PhD, Named Fellow of American College of Surgeons and Promoted to Associate Professor
Otolaryngologist Terry W. Owens, MD, has joined the department of Otorhinolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery at UTHealth Medical School as an assistant professor, and will be seeing patients at the University of Texas (UT) Physicians’ Memorial Hermann Southeast Hospital practice. Dr....
Read More Memorial Hermann and UTHealth Welcome New Team Members
More than 60 physicians and ENT professionals participated in the inaugural Texas Hill Country ENT Symposium, sponsored by Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center and the department of Otorhinolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery at UTHealth Medical School. The two-day continuing medical education meeting...
Read More Texas Hill Country ENT Symposium 2014 Recap
More than 70 physicians and other healthcare professionals attended Otorhinolaryngology Frontiers 2014, which highlighted research endeavors and emerging technology in the diagnosis and management of common otolaryngologic clinical problems. Held on June 28, 2014, at the Brown Foundation Institute of...
Read More Internationally Renowned Expert in Facial Cosmetic Surgery Speaks at 2014 ORL Frontiers
Elton Lambert, MD, and Douglas Stanley, MD, completed their residencies in otolaryngology in 2014. Dr. Lambert, who received his medical degree at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in Rochester, New York, has begun a pediatric otolaryngology...
Read More Congratulations to Graduating Residents and Fellows
Internationally recognized rhinologist Samer Fakhri, MD, FACS, FRCS(C), served as chairman of the Rhinology Program at the 5th Annual Middle East Update on Otolaryngology Conference and Exhibition, held April 20-22 at Madinat Arena Jumeirah in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Dr....
Read More Samer Fakhri, MD, Chairs Rhinology Program at Middle East Conference in Dubai, Serves as Invited Faculty in Tehran
Transoral robotic surgery (TORS) has recently emerged as an alternative to comprehensive chemoradiation in the treatment of mucosal aerodigestive tract malignancies. In a presentation made last fall to the American Academy of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, otolaryngologist Ron J. Karni,...
Read More TORS-L: Transoral Robotic Surgery with CO2 Laser Offers Greater Precision for Surgeons and De-intensification of Adjuvant Therapies for Patients
Anaplastic thyroid cancer is a diagnosis no physician wants to deliver. Although the extremely aggressive malignancy is known among otolaryngologists as resistant to all treatments, specialists at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center can now offer a measure of hope for patients...
Read More Reevaluating Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer: Aggressive Treatment May Extend Life and Improve Its Quality
Tinnitus can’t be cured, but patients with the condition can reduce its impact on their lives through device-driven habituation therapy. A new rehabilitation program at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center and UTHealth Audiology provides comprehensive evaluation of the disorder and an...
Read More UTHealth Audiology Offers Widex Zen Therapy for Tinnitus Management
A $50,000 gift from MicroSeismic, Inc. will help the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at UTHealth Medical School and Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital provide hearing aids to underprivileged pediatric patients in the greater Houston area. “The medical cost of hearing aids starts...
Read More MicroSeismic, Inc. Gives Pediatric Patients the Gift of Hearing
Dr. Robert Jahrsdoerfer, the first chair of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and professor emeritus at UTHealth Medical School, passed away at his home in Virginia on March 17, 2014. Dr. Jahrsdoerfer joined the medical school in 1982...
Read More In Memoriam: Robert Jahrsdoerfer, MD
In April 2010, eight-month-old Antonio Campos contracted bacterial meningitis that led to a two-week stay at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Texas Medical Center. After a pre-discharge vision and hearing test, his mother Giovana Blas was told that the...
Read More Simultaneous Bilateral Cochlear Implants in an Infant After Meningitis
When Cameron Chan was delivered at Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital on June 16, 2009, he was – at 24 weeks gestation – the youngest baby born to date at the hospital. “He was struggling,” recalls his mother Mandy Chan....
Read More Laryngotracheal Reconstruction Using Anterior Cricoid Suspension in a Three Year Old
Board-certified otorhinolaryngologist Ron Karni, MD, was the third ENT whom Rosemary Sauceda saw after routine blood work performed by her oncologist revealed hypercalcemia. A former renal cell carcinoma patient, Sauceda was concerned that her cancer had metastasized. When her oncologist...
Read More Single-Incision Minimally Invasive Parathyroidectomy
Located on the 27th floor of the Memorial Hermann Medical Plaza, the UTHealth Department of Otorhinolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery offers patients an outstanding view that overlooks Rice University, Hermann Park and the Houston skyline. With the addition of new technology...
Read More Advanced Technology and a Strong Focus on Convenience Improve the Patient Experience
By the time 27-year-old Reginald Durden saw oral and maxillofacial surgeon Nagi Demian, DDS, MD, the ameloblastoma had destroyed his lower jaw. Three surgeries later, Durden has a normal appearance, with scars that are barely visible, and he can talk...
Read More Multidisciplinary Virtual Pre-surgical Planning Optimizes the Outcome for an Ameloblastoma Patient
Samer Fakhri, MD, FACS, FRCS(C), is among the 2013 recipients of The University of Texas System Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Awards, offered annually in recognition of faculty at the nine academic and six health institutions that comprise the UT System. The...
Read More Dr. Fakhri Receives Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award
Researchers at UTHealth Medical School and Baylor College of Medicine have published the results of an important new study that may lead to improved treatment for chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) and other inflammatory diseases. The article, which appeared in the August...
Read More IL-33-responsive Innate Lymphoid Cells Are an Important Source of IL-13 in Chronic Rhinosinusitis with Nasal Polyps
Amber U. Luong, MD, PhD, who is an assistant professor and director of research in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at UTHealth Medical School, has earned a three-year $345,000 National Institutes of Health Clinical and Translational Science KL2...
Read More Randomized, Double-Blind, Controlled Trial of Oral Antifungal for the Treatment of Fungal-sensitive Chronic Rhinosinusitis with Nasal Polyps
In recognition of his exemplary track record of clinical care, teaching and research, Samer Fakhri, MD, FACS, FRCS(C), has been promoted from associate professor to professor of otorhinolaryngology-head and neck surgery with tenure. An internationally recognized rhinologist and a core...
Read More Dr. Fakhri Promoted to Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
Over the last several decades, the model of a unified airway linking the upper and lower airways into one functional unit has emerged to help explain overlapping epidemiologic data between chronic rhinosinusitis and asthma. According to the model, an inflammatory...
Read More TLR4 Signaling in the Pathophysiology of Allergic Fungal Rhinosinusitis
Martin J. Citardi, MD, a rhinologist, who specializes in the treatment of complicated sinus and nasal diseases and is a core member of the Texas Sinus Institute and Texas Skull Base Physicians, has been named to the Texas Super Doctors...
Read More Two ORL Faculty Members Named to Texas Super Doctors 2013 List
When the da Vinci® Surgical System was approved by the FDA in 2009 for transoral robotic surgery (TORS) for resection of tumors of the pharynx, otorhinolaryngologists affiliated with the University of Texas Medical School at Houston (UTHealth) and Memorial Hermann-Texas...
Read More Transoral Robotic Surgery for the Treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Brent Senior, MD, FACS, FARS, chief of the division of Rhinology, Allergy and Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, was the guest of honor at the 2013 Lone Star Rhinology Course held April...
Read More Lone Star Rhinology Course Attracts a National Audience
More than 75 physicians and other healthcare professionals attended Otorhinolaryngology Frontiers 2013, which highlighted research endeavors and emerging technology in the diagnosis and management of common otolaryngologic clinical problems. Held on June 22, 2013, at the Brown Foundation Institute of...
Read More Internationally Renowned Otolaryngologist Speaks at 2013 ORL Frontiers
A new graduating resident and an audiologist have both joined the staff of Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center and the department of Otorhinolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School. Ibrahim Alava III, MD received his medical degree at the University...
Read More ORL Welcomes New Recruits
The UTHealth Department of Otorhinolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery offered a free cancer screening clinic last April in observance of Oral, Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week, sponsored by the Head and Neck Cancer Alliance, formerly known as the Yul Brynner...
Read More UTHealth Otorhinolaryngology Holds Free Cancer Screening Clinic
Tang Ho, MD, FACS, and Etan Weinstock, MD, FACS, have been selected for fellowship status in the American College of Surgeons (ACS). Prior to embarking on a career in medicine, Dr. Ho, an assistant professor in facial plastic and reconstructive...
Read More Two ORL Team Members Named Fellows of the American College of Surgeons
Four faculty members within the Department of Otorhinolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery have been named among the 2013 Texas Super Doctors® Rising Stars. They are Ronda Alexander, MD; Ron Karni, MD; Amber U. Luong, MD, PhD; and Etan Weinstock, MD, FACS....
Read More Faculty Named Among Texas Super Doctors Rising Stars
Samer Fakhri, MD, FACS, FRCS(C), an otorhinolaryngologist affiliated with Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center and an associate professor, vice chair and residency program director in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at McGovern Medical School, has been recognized with the...
Read More Two ORL Faculty Members Receive 2013 Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award
Otorhinolaryngologists at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center and McGovern Medical School are currently working to identify novel therapeutic targets they hope will lead to the development of more effective therapies for chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). During the past year, the researchers presented...
Read More Translational Science Program Working to Identify Therapeutic Targets in Chronic Rhinosinusitis
A longstanding interest in improving operating room safety has led to the appointment of pediatric otolaryngologist Soham Roy, MD, FACS, FAAP, as a medical consultant for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Preventing Surgical Fires initiative. Dr. Roy is an...
Read More Preventing Surgical Fires: UTHealth Otolaryngologist Provides Expert Advice for a New FDA Safety Initiative
A $605,425 grant from the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) will enable researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) to adapt night-goggle technology used by the military to visualize the workings of the...
Read More Improving Survivorship in Head and Neck Cancer: UTHealth Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Institute of Molecular Medicine Partner on CPRIT Research Award
Rosa Castillo was unaware that she had major health problems until her primary care physician, discovered high levels of calcium in routine blood work. When the hypercalcemia persisted, she referred her to an endocrinologist. About 99 percent of all cases...
Read More Using Intraoperative Staining to Identify the Parathyroid Adenoma
Martin J. Citardi, MD, FACS, and Samer Fakhri, MD, FACS, FRCS(C), who specialize in the treatment of complicated sinus and nasal disease and are core members of the Texas Sinus Institute and Texas Skull Base Physicians, and Soham Roy, MD,...
Read More Otorhinolaryngologists Named to 2012 Best Doctors in America List
Otorhinolaryngologists at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School are engaged in research efforts that move medicine forward into the future. They presented the results of a capsaicin challenge study using optical rhinometry in non-allergic...
Read More Four Studies Evaluate the Effectiveness of Optical Rhinometry
Surgery is the primary treatment for pituitary tumors and until the last decade, neurosurgeons favored the traditional microscopic sublabial transseptal approach – an incision under the lip, use of a retractor to push away nasal tissue and placement of a...
Read More A Collaborative Approach Offers Patients a Less Invasive Alternative for Surgical Excision of Pituitary Tumors
Seventy physicians and other healthcare professionals attended Otorhinolaryngology Frontiers 2012, which highlighted research endeavors and emerging technology in the diagnosis and management of common otolaryngologic clinical problems. Held on June 23, 2012, at the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine...
Read More Internationally Renowned Otolaryngologist Speaks at 2012 ORL Frontiers
Ron Karni, MD, has been selected Faculty Member of the Year in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery by graduating residents of the department. The award recognizes Dr. Karni’s commitment to resident education and scholarly activity. “Our mission is...
Read More Ron Karni, MD, Selected Faculty Member of the Year by Graduating Residents
Internationally-recognized rhinologist Samer Fakhri, MD, FACS, FRCS(C), has received the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) 2012 Honor Award, presented at the AAO-HNSF’s annual meeting held in Washington, D.C. The award is given to academy members in...
Read More Samer Fakhri, M.D., Receives AAO Foundation Honor Award
Adelaide Dowell, AuD, CCC-A, and M. Mackenzie Hill, AuD, CCC-A. have joined the UTHealth Audiology team as staff audiologists. Dowell received her bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University and her Doctor of Audiology from Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center....
Read More Two Audiologists Join UTHealth Otorhinolaryngology
Three residents and two fellows completed their training in the department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School in June, and two new residents began their training in July...
Read More 2012 Residency and Fellowship Update
In 2012, 31,355 applicants vied for 24,034 available first-year residency positions, according to data released in March by the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP). Of the U.S. senior medical students who were matched, 81.6 percent matched to one of their...
Read More Five UTHealth Medical Students Matched to Top Choice Otorhinolaryngology Residency Programs
Samer Fakhri, MD, FACS, FRCS(C), an associate professor and residency program director in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School, has been recognized with the medical school’s...
Read More Two ORL Faculty Members Receive 2012 Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award
Martin J. Citardi, MD, who specializes in the treatment of complicated sinus and nasal diseases and is a core member of the Texas Sinus Institute and Texas Skull Base Physicians, has been named to the 2012 Texas Super Doctors list...
Read More Chair of Otorhinolaryngology Named to Texas Super Doctors 2012 List
Toward the end of 2010 and well into 2011, 32-year-old Kurtis White had a persistent runny nose that he assumed was caused by allergies. After trying various over-the-counter medications for nearly six months – without relief – he made an...
Read More Minimally Invasive Surgery for Skull Base Cancer
Last summer, otolaryngologist Ronda Alexander, MD, extended her practice beyond the walls of UT Physicians and Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center to Honduras, where she spent a week on a medical mission sponsored by Time for Christ Ministry in San Antonio,...
Read More UTHealth/Memorial Hermann Physician Joins a Medical Mission to Honduras
Patients can now find reliable information about a variety of ear, nose and throat conditions on UTHealth Otorhinolaryngology’s new web portal OPAL, the Online Patient Access Library. “In our practice, we’re strong advocates for the involvement of our patients in...
Read More Online Patient Access Library Offers Medical Information About ENT Diseases & Conditions to Patients
It been a year since Matthew La Macchia was attacked by an American bulldog while playing with friends just down the street from his home. Matthew, who was eight years old at the time, suffered six wounds on the scalp...
Read More Facial Reanimation Surgery Brightens a Young Boy’s Future
The sudden onset of nasal congestion and loss of sense of smell are commonly associated with acute viral respiratory tract infections, but on rare occasions, these rather mundane symptoms can be signs of something much more serious. Forty-year-old Johnie E....
Read More Morphoproteomics: Driving a Shift to Personalized Care for Sinonasal Undifferentiated Carcinoma
Brian Nussenbaum, MD, FACS, will be the featured speaker at 2012 Otorhinolaryngology Frontiers, an annual CME event that highlights research endeavors and emerging technology in the diagnosis and management of common otolaryngologic clinical problems. Dr. Nussenbaum is the Christy J....
Read More Internationally Renowned Otolaryngologist to Speak at 2012 ORL Frontiers
Over the past 3 years, physicians from Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School and Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center (MH-TMC), have begun to systematically review clinical outcomes for...
Read More UTHealth Otorhinolaryngology Department Exceeds the National Averages in Quality and Safety
Last October, Samer Fakhri, MD, FACS, FRCS(C), visited Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as an invited external examiner for the otorhinolaryngology certification boards of both countries. Dr. Fakhri spent a day in Riyadh, reviewing certification exams required of Saudi otolaryngologists prior...
Read More Rhinologist Invited to Serve as Board Examiner in the Middle East
Martin J. Citardi, MD, who specializes in the treatment of complicated sinus and nasal disease and is a core member of the Texas Sinus Institute and Texas Skull Base Physicians, has been named to the 2011 Texas Super Doctors list....
Read More Dr. Citardi Named to the 2011 Texas Super Doctors List
Celebrate World Voice Day! World Voice Day is celebrated each year on April 16. It informs the public of the importance of the human voice and the need for preventative care. Many abuse their voice by smoking, shouting, drinking,...
Read More Make Your Voice Count!
Otorhinolaryngologists at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School and Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center are engaged in research efforts that drive the innovation that moves medicine forward into the future. The following reports were presented...
Read More Research Update
Approximately 150 otolaryngologists and other healthcare providers took advantage of the opportunity to advance the care they provide their patients at the 2011 Advanced Rhinology Concepts CME event held last November. Sponsored by the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery...
Read More Advanced Rhinology Concepts CME Attracts a National and International Audience of Otolaryngologists
Gayle Adamson has had sinus disease for virtually her entire life. She started taking allergy shots in her late teens in an effort to mitigate her symptoms, but by the time she was in her early 30s, she was constantly...
Read More Outside the Box with Chronic Rhinosinusitis
Seventy-one-year-old Rose Vargas was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) several years ago based on her increasing shortness of breath and diminished exercise capacity. “I had never been sick before and suddenly, I couldn’t clean my house, walk the...
Read More The Vargas Case: Excision of Large Benign Goiter
The Reverend Albert Williams had been preaching at Salem Missionary Baptist Church in Houston for nearly 10 years when he was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer, threatening his vocation. When the malignancy recurred following radiation therapy, Rev. Williams was referred by...
Read More The Reverend Williams Regains His Voice
Sudden and severe unilateral hearing loss is uncommon, especially in young people. At any age, loss of hearing in one ear impairs communication, leading to feelings of isolation. It limits understanding of distant speech and of words directed at the...
Read More Nihal Uddin’s Journey to 360-Degree Hearing
Two residents in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School have been awarded competitive research grants to further their studies. Elton Lambert, MD, a second-year resident, has...
Read More Residents Receive Research Grants
Samer Fakhri, MD, FACS, FRCS(C), a faculty member at the UTHealth Otorhinolaryngology Texas Sinus Institute and Texas Skull Base Physicians and a staff member at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, has been recognized with the medical school’s Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award...
Read More Two ORL Faculty Members Receive 2011 Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award
Martin J. Citardi, MD, FACS, and Samer Fakhri, MD, FACS, FRCS(C), core members of the Texas Sinus Institute and Texas Skull Base Physicians, have been named to the 2011 Best Doctors in America® list, which includes the nation’s most respected...
Read More Otorhinolaryngologists Named to Best Doctors in America List
Facial plastic surgeon Russell W. H. Kridel, MD, FACS, has been reelected to a second four-year term of service on the American Medical Association’s (AMA) Council on Science and Public Health. The council plays a critical role in helping physicians...
Read More Russell Kridel, MD, Reelected to AMA Council Position
As a child growing up in a strong, extended family of physicians, Amber U. Luong, MD, PhD, developed an avid interest in medicine and in caring for patients with disease. But it wasn’t until the early 1990s, when she was...
Read More From Bench to Bedside: Physician Researcher Amber Luong, MD, PhD Blends Basic Science with Clinical Care
Mark your calendars for the 2011 Advanced Rhinology Concepts (ARC) CME event, scheduled for November 4-6. Sponsored by the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School, the continuing...
Read More 2011 Advanced Rhinology Concepts Scheduled for November
Board-certified otolaryngologist Michael Byrd, MD, has joined the medical staff of Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center and Memorial Hermann Southeast Hospital from Albany ENT and Allergy Services in Albany, New York. In his new role, Dr. Byrd, who is also assistant...
Read More Michael Byrd, MD Recruited to UTHealth and Memorial Hermann
Southwest Houston’s growing population has prompted UT Physicians to open a new Facial Plastic Surgery Clinic at at the corner of Beltway 8 and Bellaire Boulevard. “We want our services to be more accessible to people in the suburbs, including...
Read More UT Physicians Opens Facial Plastic Surgery Clinic in Southwest Houston
Two new audiologists have joined the staff of UTHealth Audiology, which operates a hearing, tinnitus and balance clinic directed by Nabil Al-Muhtaseb, MB, CHB, MS, CCC-A., UTPhysicians audiologist affiliated with Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital and Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center. Chris...
Read More UTHealth Audiology Program Expands
2011 marked the first year the number of successful matches to residency programs for American medical school seniors exceeded 15,000, according to data released in March by the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP). Overall, 80 percent of students matched to...
Read More 9 UTHealth Medical Students Match in Otorhinolaryngology
Three residents and two fellows completed their training in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School in June 2011, and two new residents will begin their training...
Read More Residency and Fellowship Update
Ron Karni, MD, a board-certified otorhinolaryngologist at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, was among a group of 10 physicians from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School invited to deliver lectures at the National Cancer Institute...
Read More Ron Karni, MD Invited to Speak in Panama
In mid-summer 2010, 46-year-old Houstonian Paul Wyett found a found a small lump on his neck that he thought was an ingrown hair. “It swelled up and then went away but never completely disappeared,” he says. His primary care physician...
Read More Finding the Unknown Primary in Head & Neck Cancer
Rhinologists at the Texas Sinus Institute of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston and Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center are engaged in research efforts that drive the innovation that provides tomorrow’s...
Read More A Meta-Analysis of Topical Amphotericin B for the Treatment of Chronic Rhinosinusitis
Rhinologists at the Texas Sinus Institute of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston and Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center are engaged in research efforts that drive the innovation that provides tomorrow’s...
Read More Cytokine Profile Comparison Between Inflamed Sinus Mucosa and Sinonasal Polyps from Chronic Rhinosinusitis
Rhinologists at the Texas Sinus Institute of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston and Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center are engaged in research efforts that drive the innovation that provides tomorrow’s...
Read More The Distribution of Normal Saline Delivered by Large-Particle Nasal Nebulizer versus Large-Volume/Low-Pressure Squeeze Bottle
Otolaryngologist Ronda Alexander, MD, looks to orthopedic surgery as an analogy to explain the treatment of voice disorders. “After a knee replacement or an ACL repair, the surgeon prescribes physical therapy to teach patients how to use the joint safely...
Read More Averting the “Limping Larynx” with a Multidisciplinary Approach
For nearly 20 years, 45-year-old Susan Haase lived her life exhausted. “I couldn’t understand why I was so tired,” Haase says. “At first I thought it was a normal part of aging but I was only in my early 30s...
Read More Repair of Nasal Obstruction with Functional Septorhinoplasty
Randy Richards underwent surgery in 2008 for removal of a nasal polyp and repair of a deviated septum. During the procedure, his ENT discovered that what he had originally thought was an inflammatory polyp was actually an inverted papilloma (IP)....
Read More Definitive Endoscopic Resection of Inverted Papilloma
Initially, Jesselyn May didn’t notice her facial paralysis, but photos taken over time revealed a gradual loss of muscle tone, accompanied by sagging on the affected side. “Eventually, my family members pointed it out to me, and as the years...
Read More Facial Reanimation and Facelift for Facial Paralysis
Rhinologists from the Texas Sinus Institute of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston reported their results on a novel topical therapy for the treatment of refractory chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) in...
Read More Mometasone Furoate Gel: A Novel In-Office Treatment of Recalcitrant Postoperative Chronic Rhinosinusitis
Rhinologists from the Texas Sinus Institute of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston presented a study on the use of ArthroCare ENT Coblation® technology at the American Rhinologic Society spring...
Read More Rhinologic Applications of Radiofrequency Coblation
When Marya was only 22 years old, she was diagnosed with severe rheumatoid arthritis. Seventeen years later she has undergone two total knee replacements, as well as replacement of all of the metacarpophalangeal joints in both of her hands. “The...
Read More Rhinoplasty for Nasal Obstruction
Up to 50 percent of Americans will be diagnosed with a thyroid nodule at some time in their lives, found either by palpation or incidentally on a radiographic imaging study. About 4 to 7 percent of these nodules will be...
Read More Producing Quality Outcomes in Thyroid Surgery
The first line of treatment for most patients with nasal obstruction symptoms is medical therapy, but “Treatment of nasal valve obstructions begins with a complete evaluation and proper diagnosis,” says Tang Ho, MD, a fellowship-trained facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon...
Read More Functional Rhinoplasty: Repairing Nasal Valve Obstruction
Following surgical resection and stereotactic radiation therapy to treat a metastatic adenocarcinoma in his left cerebral hemisphere, Dick Smith’s voice was inexplicably reduced to a whisper. “Between his brain surgery in July and the Gamma Knife treatment in mid-August, Dick...
Read More A Cancer Patient Regains His Voice
Internationally recognized speaker and author Soham Roy, M.D., F.A.C.S., F.A.A.P., has been named director of pediatric otorhinolaryngology for Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital (CMHH) and The University of Texas Medical School at Houston. In his new role, Dr. Roy will coordinate a...
Read More Soham Roy, M.D., Named Director of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology
Since her September 2008 arrival at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center and The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Amber U. Luong, MD, PhD, has focused her attention on building a translational otorhinolaryngology research program from the ground up. Her...
Read More From Bench to Bedside with New Treatments for Chronic Sinus Disease
The Comprehensive Sinus Program, a joint effort of Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center and the Texas Sinus Institute (TSI) of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, is founded on four related and interdependent spheres:...
Read More Comprehensive Rhinology Program Offers State-of-the-Art Care for Patients with Chronic Rhinosinusitis Refractory to Standard Treatments
Mark your calendars for the 2009 Advanced Rhinology Concepts (ARC) CME event, scheduled for November 6-8, 2009, at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center and The University of Texas Medical School at Houston. The continuing medical education course will focus on the...
Read More Rhinology Update: Advanced Rhinology Concepts CME Scheduled for November
New technology is allowing Ronda E. Alexander, M.D., a fellowship-trained laryngologist at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center and the new UT-Houston Texas Voice Performance Institute (TVPI), to perform many minimally invasive procedures safely in the office, improving patient satisfaction, and reducing...
Read More The Comprehensive Voice Program: From Advanced Office-Based Procedures to Community Outreach
The UT Department of Otorhinolaryngology now occupies new clinical space on the 27th floor of the Memorial Hermann Medical Plaza, offering patients an outstanding view that overlooks Rice University, Hermann Park, and, to the northeast, the Houston skyline. This office...
Read More Designing the Future: ORL’s New Office Space Features High-Tech Tools
We’re pleased to present the first issue of ORL Progress Notes, a biannual update on the otorhinolaryngology service at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center and the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston....
Read More Welcome!