The Laryngoscope

Postoperative pneumothorax (PPTX) is rare after thyroidectomy or parathyroidectomy, occurring in up to 0.10% of cases. However, it is associated with increased risks of all-cause mortality, adverse respiratory events, and healthcare utilization rates in up to 1 year after surgery, deeming PPTX as a potential marker of increased postoperative vulnerability.

This study used item response theory to evaluate the 10-item Cough Severity Index (CSI) and determine whether a shorter version could perform comparably. From 4240 responses, the authors identified a 5-item subset, including items about embarrassment, avoiding places due to cough, cough when lying down, voice effects, and being upset by cough that demonstrated the highest discrimination and performed similarly to the full 10-item instrument in determining cough severity, particularly in patients with less symptom burden. The findings suggest this 5-item CSI subset can serve as an efficient initial assessment tool for more nuanced testing, reducing patient burden while aptly reflecting the impact of cough severity and preserving accuracy.

A prospective multicenter study evaluated robotic-assisted cochlear implant electrode insertion in 14 pediatric patients (ages 4–12), finding a 100% procedural success rate with no device-related serious adverse events through 30 days post-activation. Pediatric-specific anatomic challenges, including smaller mastoid cavities and thinner cortical bone, were managed successfully through preoperative planning and intraoperative adjustments. These results support the safety and feasibility of robotic-assisted insertion in the pediatric cochlear implant population.

Discharge with an oral prednisone taper was not associated with a reduced incidence of delayed facial nerve palsy following acoustic neuroma resection, even after rigorous adjustment for confounding using inverse probability weighting. The findings do not support routine prophylactic corticosteroid use for this indication.

Larynx transplantation offers the potential for complete restoration of laryngeal function after total laryngectomy, but its use is currently limited by the risks associated with lifelong immunosuppression. Tissue engineering methods may help overcome this barrier and increase access to care, but have so far fallen short of maintaining the optimal structural architecture of the scaffolds. The novel application of antigen removal processing to laryngeal scaffold engineering shows superior preservation of critical scaffold structural elements compared with traditional decellularization and represents a promising pathway toward immunosuppression-free laryngeal reconstruction.

This prospective cost–benefit analysis evaluated a deep learning algorithm for automated referral triage across 214 new patient referrals at a high-volume Head and Neck Surgical Oncology center operating under a fee-for-service model. The algorithm reduced referral triage labor by 98.5% (displacing 0.94 FTEs per division) and identified 80 verified recoverable clinic slots annually, yielding a net annual operating gain of $535,989 and a 14.9× return on investment. These findings demonstrate that targeted AI implementation can serve as a powerful economic strategy, reducing administrative burden while optimizing limited subspecialty capacity for high-acuity surgical care.