Otorhinolaryngology is a surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the surgical and medical management of conditions of the head and neck. Doctors who specialize in this area are called otorhinolaryngologists, otolaryngologists, head and neck surgeons, or ENT surgeons or physicians. Patients seek treatment from an otorhinolaryngologist for diseases of the ear, nose, throat, base of the skull, head, and neck. These commonly include functional diseases that affect the senses and activities of eating, drinking, speaking, breathing, swallowing, and hearing. In addition, ENT surgery encompasses the surgical management of cancers and benign tumors and reconstruction of the head and neck as well as plastic surgery of the face, scalp, and neck.
Sinusitis, also known as rhinosinusitis, is an inflammation of the mucous membranes that line the sinuses resulting in symptoms that may include production of thick nasal mucus, nasal congestion, facial congestion, facial pain, facial pressure, loss of smell, or fever.
Nasal polyps are noncancerous growths within the nose or sinuses. Symptoms include trouble breathing through the nose, loss of smell, decreased taste, post nasal drip, and a runny nose. The growths are sac-like, movable, and nontender, though face pain may occasionally occur. They typically occur in both nostrils in those who are affected. Complications may include sinusitis and broadening of the nose.
Empty nose syndrome (ENS) is a clinical syndrome, the hallmark symptom of which is a sensation of suffocation despite a clear airway. This syndrome is often referred to as a form of secondary atrophic rhinitis. ENS is a potential complication of nasal turbinate surgery or injury. Patients have usually undergone a turbinectomy or other surgical procedures that injure the nasal turbinates.
Balloon sinuplasty is a procedure that ear, nose and throat surgeons may use for the treatment of blocked sinuses. Patients diagnosed with sinusitis but not responding to medications may be candidates for sinus surgery. Balloon technology was initially cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2005 and is an endoscopic, catheter-based system for chronic sinusitis. It uses a balloon over a wire catheter to dilate sinus passageways. The balloon is inflated with the goal of dilating the sinus openings, widening the walls of the sinus passageway and restoring normal drainage.
Functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) is a procedure that is used to treat sinusitis and other conditions that affect the sinuses. Sinusitis is an inflammation of the sinuses that can cause symptoms such as congestion, headaches, and difficulty breathing through the nose.
The Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital was a health facility on Gray's Inn Road in London. It closed in October 2019 when services transferred to the new Royal National ENT and Eastman Dental Hospitals on Huntley Street, London, WC1E 6DG. The Huntley Street hospital continues to provide specialist ENT, sleeps and allergy services and is part of University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Sir Victor Ewings Negus, MS, FRCS was a British surgeon who specialised in laryngology and also made fundamental contributions to comparative anatomy with his work on the structure and evolution of the larynx. He was born and educated in London, studying at King's College School, then King's College London, followed by King's College Hospital. The final years of his medical training were interrupted by the First World War, during which he served with the Royal Army Medical Corps. After the war, he qualified as a surgeon and studied with laryngologists in France and the USA before resuming his career at King's College Hospital where he became a junior surgeon in 1924.
Sir Donald Frederick Norris Harrison was a British surgeon
Arnold George Dominic Maran MD, FRCSEd, FRCSEng, FACS, FRCPE was a Scottish head and neck surgeon and otolaryngologist. Having trained in ear, nose and throat surgery in Edinburgh, Scotland he then had further training as a head and neck surgeon in the United States and returned to a consultant post in Dundee, Scotland. Moving to Edinburgh he was awarded a personal chair in otorhinolaryngology by the University of Edinburgh. In collaboration with Professor Philip Stell of Liverpool he devised training courses in head and neck surgery and together they wrote Stell and Maran’s Textbook of Head and Neck Surgery and Oncology which became a popular textbook for the subspeciality. Maran went on to establish a clinic for voice disorders in Edinburgh which attracted professional singers and celebrities. He was elected president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1997.
Milind Vasant Kirtane is an Indian otorhinolaryngologist, reported to have performed the first cochlear implant surgery in Mumbai. The Government of India honoured him, in 2014, with the award of Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, for his contributions to the field of medicine.
Desiderio Passali is an Italian doctor and ear, nose and throat professor at the ENT Department of Siena University. Passali worked for 40 years in ENT departments of various University hospitals, in Italy, and established ENT departments in Rome, Siena and L'Aquila he headed for 45 years, and where many physicians and students studied otolaryngology and audiology. His clinical, surgical and scientific main interest centered on rhinology, inflammatory ear diseases, pediatric otolaryngology, allergy, equilibrium.
Arthur Logan Turner FRCSEd FRSE LLD was a Scottish surgeon, who specialised in diseases of ear, nose and throat (ENT) and was one of the first surgeons to work at the purpose-built ENT Pavilion at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. During his surgical career he published a series of clinical papers and wrote a textbook of ENT surgery which proved popular around the world and ran to several editions. After retiring from surgical practice he pursued his interest in the history of medicine writing a biography of his father and histories of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and the University of Edinburgh. As his father had been before him, he was elected President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. His collection of pathological specimens was donated to Surgeon's Hall Museum in Edinburgh..
Flordeliz "Gigi" Osler is a Canadian Senator, physician, and assistant professor at the University of Manitoba. She was the 2018–2019 President of the Canadian Medical Association.
George Fayad FRCS, FICS, is an ear nose and throat surgeon, who introduced the use of nasal titanium implants in the UK to open up the nasal valve and improve breathing in people with nasal valve dysfunction. In addition to general conditions of the ear, nose and throat, he treats snoring, sleep problems and vertigo. He also performs the operation of ear-pinning without an incision. He is chairman of the ENT department at the Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and head of the allergy clinic at Basildon Hospital.
The British Rhinological Society is a learned society that encourages education and research in topics related to rhinology, the nose, sinuses and facial plastics. From 2019 to 2022 Claire Hopkins served as the society's president.
Claire Hopkins is a British Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) surgeon at Guy's Hospital and Professor of Rhinology at King's College London. She is the President of the British Rhinological Society. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hopkins successfully campaigned to have anosmia recognised as a symptom of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom.
Heinz Stammberger (1946-2018) was a German-Austrian teacher, and researcher in the field of sinus surgery and otolaryngology. He was an Emeritus Professor and Head of the Department of General ORL, H&NS of the Medical University of Graz.
Mary Despina Lekas Picozzi was an American physician. She was head of otolaryngology and Surgeon-in-Chief at Rhode Island Hospital from 1983 to 1996, professor of Clinical Otolaryngology at Brown University's Alpert Medical School, and president of the New England Otolaryngological Society.
David William Kennedy is an American academician, surgeon, and otolaryngologist. He is currently serving as an emeritus professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
