• 63 years old male.
• Passenger was ill-appearing even before boarding the airplane.
• Profuse bleeding occurred from the nose and mouth.
• Litres of blood was lost with splattering to the walls of the airplane.
• Flight attendants tried to resuscitate the passenger for 30 minutes before he died.
There are only a few things I can think of to explain what happened. starting with the most to the least likely.
1) A very bad nosebleed. Not the typical one that most people get (anterior nosebleed), but one that occurs from the sphenopalatine artery (posterior...
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Everyone has heard of reflux which medically is known as gastroesophageal reflux (GERD). Some may even have heard of laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) which is reflux that extends past the chest and up into the throat.
However, few have heard of reflux that is even worse than LPR called nasopharyngeal reflux (NPR)where the reflux does not just reach the throat level, but extends past the throat and goes all the way up into the nose! Called nasopharyngeal reflux, this possibility is raised with certain abnormal endoscopic findings seen in the very back of the nose. Known as mulberry like changes of the posterior inferior nasal turbinate, the mucosa is not just swollen, but also bumpy in appearance as shown in the images above [reference...
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Ruptured eardrums are a very common ear issue that triggers an ENT office visit. A ruptured eardrum may occur due to an infection or trauma (from a q-tip or being slapped over the ear). Although it sounds serious, the vast majority of a perforated eardrum heal closed within a few weeks. Rarely, it may take up to one year to close. The video shown above demonstrates a time-lapse healing of a traumatic ruptured eardrum healing closed over 3 weeks. Rarely, if a hole in the eardrum is suspected not to be closing and is causing problems such as hearing loss and recurrent ear infections, it can be surgically closed.
The other common urgent ear issue that is often seen in an ENT office is an outer ear infection, also known as Swimmer's ear....
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Normally, the human balance system incorporates information from vision, inner ear vestibular system, and the proprioceptive system. The inner ear vestibular system is responsible for detecting rotational and linear movements of the head whereas the proprioceptive system is responsible for knowing where one's body and limbs are positioned from information provided by the skin, muscles, joints. Vision provides information on where one is in space relative to other objects.
Normal balance requires the brain to incorporate information from all 3 systems which is then synthesized into "normal" balance sensory output.
Of course, if any of these systems are dysfunctional, dizziness occurs. For example, BPPV is a dysfunction of the inner...
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Although warts, pimples, and psoriasis are mainly considered dermatologic conditions, it fascinating to think about how such skin conditions develop over time from start to finish in one smooth time lapse. Using generative AI utilizing actual skin photos, it is possible to create such time lapse videos that otherwise would be impossible.
Just to clarify, these are skin conditions treated by dermatologists (not ENTs). I just created these videos because I thought it would be cool!
Check them out!
There has been some research to suggest that ballet dance techniques can also help patients suffering from dizziness.
Given this revelation, professional ballerina, Dani Moya with the Manassas Ballet Theatre has graciously provided her time and expertise to provide video instruction on 14 exercises geared towards improving balance. These exercises start out very simple, but get progressively more difficult. Although these exercises are specifically geared towards non-dancers, these same techniques are utilized by ballerinas to improve their overall sense of balance as well (and to prevent from getting dizzy when doing their dance routines).
These exercises, especially after the first few, should only be performed by individuals who...
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On Sept 1, 2023, Jimmy Buffet died from merkel cell carcinoma which is a rare and deadly skin cancer... Way more deadly than melanoma. Melanoma has a 10 year survival rate of 61.3% whereas merkel cell carcinoma is only 17.7% [link]. 5 year survival rates for merkel cell carcinoma is 75% if localized to the skin (stage 1) and only 24% if it has already spread elsewhere in the body (stage 4) [link].
Jimmy Buffet died within 4 years of his merkel cell carcinoma diagnosis. It is unclear what stage his merkel cell caricnoma was at time of diagnosis, but early diagnosis is key to survival! As you can see from the video above, an early diagnosis is unfortunately uncommon because this skin cancer spreads painlessly in the early stages and...
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The real-time graph shown above is the result of an on-going survey of tinnitus sufferers voluntarily submitting their tinnitus frequency. The graph above is broken into pitch ranges whereas the graph shown below is further divided into hertz ranges. The graphs automatically update as new survey responses are completed.
Believe it or not, we do not actually know the answer to this question which is why this survey is being taken! Nobody has done a methodical study on tabulating the tinnitus frequency of individuals. (Only two can be found on an internet search. One was performed by a company and reported on a blog and...
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Published in 2015, the research stated that 60% of patients achieved hearing improvement and vertigo resolution. Those patients who had Meniere's Disease for less than 3 years typically responded better to this treatment than those who have suffered from Meniere's Disease for a longer period of time.
The anti-viral protocol used in the research was as follows:
Valacyclovir
- 1g 3x per day for 3 weeks, then
- 1g 2x per day for 3 weeks, then
- 1g daily for up to 1 year.
Acyclovir
...
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