Treatment of the drooling child by submandibular duct transposition.

Drooling is frequently a major problem in the neurologically damaged child, and carries a considerable social stigma. Current methods of treatment are reviewed, and the authors' experience using the technique of bilateral submandibular duct transposition in a series of 25 consecutive cases is evaluated. The operation is technically straightforward, with a high success rate and low morbidity, and is considered to be the procedure of choice.

Second ear stapedectomy.

A long-term follow up of a personal series of 79 second ear stapedectomies indicates that the procedure can be undertaken with minimal complications. No bilateral dead ears or vestibular disasters have occurred. The results were satisfactory in 87.5% of ears, and bilaterally symmetrical hearing with an air-bone gap of 30 dB or less was achieved in 24% of patients. Whilst the established dictum that only one ear should be operated upon should not be abandoned, the results reported in this paper may encourage the more experienced to operate on the second ear at a later date in carefully selected cases.

The place of cytology in laryngeal diagnosis.

A cytological procedure providing useful supplementary information in the diagnosis of laryngeal malignancy is described. Of 51 patients, 22 had complete correlation with histological examination in confirming a benign condition. Twenty patients had complete correlation in confirming a malignant lesion. Five patients showed cellular atypia in the presence of benign conditions. Three showed atypia, of which 2 were malignant, 1 being unstable histologically but with no evidence of frank malignancy. Ten patients had been irradiated previously; in all cases the distinction between residual disease and no evident disease was correctly diagnosed with respect to the histological appearance.