Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Advances Articles

Multidisciplinary and Interdisciplinary Team Provides Innovative Care for Acoustic Neuromas

A multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary team at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) is using traditional and innovative techniques that are coupled with radiation therapy to treat patients with acoustic neuromas. Vestibular schwannomas, also called acoustic neuromas are being detected earlier due to increased detection via high-resolution imaging including MRI. Aside from known genetic factors, the cause of these neuromas is not entirely known.

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Multidisciplinary Team Performs Innovative Repair of Temporal Bone Defects

Neurotologists, neurosurgeons, neuroradiologists, and neuro-ophthalmologists at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) are providing advanced multidisciplinary evaluation and treatment for patients with temporal bone defects. “We are seeing many patients referred for cerebral spinal fluid leaks and subsequent identification of encephaloceles with a skull base temporal bone defect,” said C. Eduardo Corrales, MD, a neurotologist in the Division of Otolaryngology at BWH. “Traditionally, primary causes have included traumatic temporal bone fractures, but more patients today are presenting with idiopathic conditions.”

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New Clinical Trial Examines Neoadjuvant Immunotherapy in Head and Neck Cancers

The Head and Neck Oncology Center at Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center is one of only two sites nationwide participating in a new clinical trial evaluating the role of neoadjuvant immunotherapy in improving locoregional recurrence and distant metastatic rates in patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs). “Immunotherapies are now being more broadly used in the treatment of recurrent metastatic cancers, including head and neck cancers,” said Ravindra Uppaluri, MD, PhD, Surgical Director of the Head and Neck Oncology Center. “By introducing these therapies during an earlier phase of the treatment process, our goal is to improve the upfront, first-line therapies offered to patients when they first present with cancer, particularly those at the highest risk for recurrence.”

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