ENT surgery – Interventions for speech and hearing
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Image: Nose surgery performed on a woman; Copyright: GabiStock

Topic of the Month February 2023

ENT surgery – Interventions for speech and hearing

Speaking and hearing are the two most important abilities that connect humans to their environment. If they get limited through disease or injury, it is all the more important to restore them as broadly as possible. Depending on the cause for their limitation, there are different surgical treatment possibilities. We take a look at current methods in our Topic of the Month.

ENT surgery: minimally invasive and robot-assisted procedures
Image: Female physician is looking at an X-ray image of the human skull; Copyright: stevanovicigor
The ear, nose and throat are full of tiny structures, and each plays an important role in the health of a person. The inside of the ears makes it possible for us to hear, while the inside of our nose enables us to smell. The larynx contains the vocal cords, which allow us to speak and stay connected to the outside world. It is crucial that the function of these organs must not be accidentally damaged during surgery.
Read the article about ENT surgery here

Vocal cord paresis: surgical treatment to reverse paralysis
Image: Man is grabbing his throat with one hand, touches the larynx; Copyright: towfiqu98
The paralysis of the vocal folds, the vocal fold paresis (also known as vocal cord paralysis) is a condition in which most patients cannot control the movement of the muscles that control the voice. This can make it hard to speak, prompting a reduction in speech volume that makes it challenging to understand the person. Some patients may even have difficulty breathing.
Read the interview with Prof. Andreas Müller here

HEARO cochlear implantation – microsurgery via robot
Image: A surgeon checking the surgical procedure again on a monitor; Copyright: svitlanah

Until now, robots have assisted surgeons in the operating room to enhance their capabilities. CASCINATION is a Swiss medical device company who has teamed up with MED-EL – the Innsbruck-based hearing implant company – to develop a system that can perform an autonomous cochlear implantation. Since then, HEARO has been successfully used – including at the Medical University of Vienna (MedUniWien).
Read the interview with Wolfgang Gstöttner here

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