Publications by authors named "Andrea Albera"

Objective: To explore the results of revision stapes surgery within a multicentric cohort, focusing on hearing improvements and correlation with the type of postoperative hearing loss experienced and related findings during the revision procedure.

Methods: A retrospective study of 308 consecutive revision stapes surgeries performed ay 5 Otorhinolaryngologic Units in Pisa, Turin, Pavia, Piacenza, and Rome between 2010 and 2023 was accomplished.

Results: The most frequent causes leading to revision stapes surgery were prosthesis dislocation (56.

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The vestibular system, one of the earliest sensory systems in vertebrates, is crucial for encoding head and trunk movements. Research in stroke patients with spatial attention deficits and studies manipulating vestibular signals in healthy individuals suggest that the vestibular system is also involved in orienting visuospatial attention. However, the specific interactions between vestibular and attentional systems and the consequences of vestibular pathologies on attentional functions are still poorly understood.

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Objective: The use of the endoscope has brought major changes in skull base surgery in the last decades. In the cerebellopontine angle (CPA), it has shown few advantages over microscopic surgery alone, evolving towards a full-endoscopic surgery for neurovascular conflicts and tumors. This review aims to systematically analyze the literature about the use of the endoscope in the cerebellopontine angle tumors.

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Background/objectives: The management of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) often involves multidisciplinary decision-making to optimize patient outcomes. Surgery and chemoradiation therapy (CRT) represent the two main treatment modalities. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to provide a comprehensive analysis of quality of life, speech, swallowing, sleep, psychological distress, and nutritional status in OPSCC patients treated with either surgery or CRT.

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Musical signals are complex periodic waveforms characterized by the sum of different frequencies. In a harmonic complex tone, the lowest frequency is called fundamental frequency (f0), while the other frequencies are called harmonics, and their frequencies are integer multiples of the fundamental. The perceived pitch of a sound is correlated with the fundamental frequency, even though it may be impossible to hear f0 in many situations.

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Introduction: Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo is the most frequent peripheral vestibular disorder, characterized by brief but intense vertigo crises related to changes in position. The Liberatory maneuver is considered the gold-standard treatment, with a short-term resolution of the vertigo in over 70% of cases, and achieving a 90% success rate after four maneuvers. An immediate reaction to the subsequent repositioning maneuver is often an orthotropic nystagmus (Ny) occurring in the same direction as the Ny observed after returning to the primary position.

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Background: The temporal muscle fascia is the most widely used type of tissue graft in revision myringoplasty procedures. The aim of this study was to verify if the use of a cartilage graft may be a valid alternative to temporalis fascia. Tympanic reperforations are frequent after myringoplasty, especially in complicated, large, or anterior perforations, so we decided to compare the neodrum stability of two different surgical techniques.

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Purpose: The aim of this article was to systematically review the literature on the pediatric population surgically treated for cholesteatoma and describe the applied post-operative follow-up strategies.

Methods: A systematic review was conducted following the Primary Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) statement recommendations. After running the selected search string in PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar, studies in English, reporting on surgically treated pediatric cholesteatoma patients (age younger or equal to 18 year-old) were retrieved.

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Article Synopsis
  • * The study included 27 cochlear implant users who were recorded while producing vowel sounds and reading, with results showing that their voice quality suffered significantly when using the implants.
  • * Interestingly, there was no notable difference in voice quality between users of one implant and those with bilateral implants, and worse hearing thresholds in users with residual hearing correlated with a decreased likelihood of dysphonia.
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Objective: Olfactory dysfunction (OD) represents a frequent complaint in general population and especially in patients with chronic sinonasal diseases. The aim of this study was the cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Self-reported Mini Olfactory Questionnaire (Self-MOQ) into Italian.

Methods: One hundred fifty patients affected by chronic sinonasal diseases and reporting hyposmia were enrolled.

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Purpose: Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) often alters sleep quality. Dupilumab emerged as an innovative and effective therapy for refractory/recurrent severe CRSwNP. The aim of this observational retrospective study was to evaluate the sleep quality in patients with CRSwNP who underwent treatment with dupilumab.

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Objective: To determine the benefits of binaural hearing rehabilitation in patients with monaural conductive or mixed hearing loss treated with a unilateral bone conduction implant (BCI).

Methods: This monocentric study includes 7 patients with monaural conductive or mixed hearing loss who underwent surgical implantation of a unilateral BCI (Bonebridge, Med-El). An ITA Matrix test was performed by each patient included in the study - without and with the BCI and in three different settings - to determine the summation effect, squelch effect and head shadow effect.

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Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) represents the most frequent cause of peripheral vertigo. In most cases, it is successfully treated using the canalith repositioning procedure, but it is often followed by continuous lightheadedness in the absence of vertigo or nystagmus (residual dizziness, RD). Our aim is to describe the clinical effectiveness and the urine metabolomics profile of treating these patients with polyphenol compound supplementation.

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Article Synopsis
  • Sinonasal nuclear protein in testis carcinoma (SNUTC) is a rare and serious type of cancer linked to a gene mutation, with patients usually living less than 10 months after diagnosis.
  • Researchers looked at studies to find the best ways to treat SNUTC, checking different factors like patient age and how long they survived after treatment.
  • They found that surgery was the most common first treatment, followed by a mix of radiation and chemotherapy, but there isn’t a clear best treatment plan yet, so doctors should tailor decisions for each individual patient.
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Introduction: Hearing loss (HL) strongly impacts communication abilities and impairs social interactions. Moreover, it modifies the vocal parameters of affected patients. The effects of hearing rehabilitation through hearing aids (HA) on the vocal production of patients suffering from HL have not been thoroughly analyzed in the literature.

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Unlabelled: This PRISMA-compliant systematic review aimed to investigate the use of and the most common procedures performed with the novel 3D 4K exoscope in surgical pediatric head and neck settings.

Methods: Search criteria were applied to PubMed, EMBASE and the Cochrane Review databases and included all studies published up to January 2023 reporting 3D 4K exoscope-assisted surgeries in pediatric patients. After the removal of duplicates, selection of abstracts and full-text articles, and quality assessment, we reviewed eligible articles for number of patients treated, age, surgical procedures, and outcomes.

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Objective: To establish the safety and effectiveness of subtotal petrosectomy with cochlear implantation in patients affected by chronic middle ear disorders to refractory to previous surgical treatments.

Methods: A multicentre, retrospective study was conducted on patients affected by recalcitrant chronic middle ear disorders who underwent cochlear implantation in combination with subtotal petrosectomy. Patients' details were collected from databases of 11 Italian tertiary referral centres.

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Background: To assess and compare binaural benefits and subjective satisfaction of active bone conduction implant (BCI) in patients with bilateral conductive or mixed hearing loss fitted with bilateral BCI and patients with monaural conductive hearing loss fitted with monaural BCI.

Methods: ITA Matrix test was performed both on patients affected by bilateral conductive or mixed hearing loss fitted with monaural bone conduction hearing implant (Bonebridge, Med-El) before and after implantation of contralateral bone conduction hearing implant and on patients with monaural conductive or mixed hearing loss before and after implantation of monaural BCI. The Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (APHAB) questionnaire was administered to both groups of subjects and the results were compared with each other.

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Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly modified the work routine in healthcare; however, its impact on the field of paediatric otorhinolaryngology (ORL) has been rarely investigated. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of COVID-19 on paediatric ORL.

Methods: A questionnaire was developed by the Young Otolaryngologists of the Italian Society of ORL-Head and Neck Surgery (GOS).

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Objective: To evaluate the reliability and validity of the Italian version of the Brief Questionnaire of Olfactory Disorders (Brief-IT-QOD).

Methods: The study consisted of six phases: item generation, reliability analysis (112 dysosmic patients for internal consistency analysis and 61 for test-retest reliability analysis), normative data generation (303 normosmic subjects), validity analysis (comparison of Brief-IT-QOD scores of healthy and dysosmic subjects and scores correlation with psychophysical olfactory testing TDI and SNOT-22 scores), responsiveness analysis (10 dysosmic chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps patients before and after biologic therapy), and cut-off value determination (ROC curve analysis of Brief-IT-QOD sensitivity and specificity).

Results: All subjects completed the Brief-IT-QOD.

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Introduction: The study aimed to investigate binaural cues in the rehabilitation of unilateral occluded ears with a bone conduction hearing aid.

Methods: The study sample consisted of 40 adult volunteers with normal hearing. Unilateral pseudo-conductive hearing loss was induced by inserting an earplug into the external auditory canal (EAC) and silicone material in the concha for ear impression.

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Different surgical techniques have been proposed for parapharyngeal space tumors, including transcervical, transparotid, trans-mandibular, infratemporal, and transoral. The choice of the correct approach depends on the size, localization and nature of the tumor. The transoral approach can be used for benign prestyloid masses, such as tumors of the deep lobe of the parotid gland.

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Objective: Hearing loss (HL) prevalence in Italy is expected to increase due to population aging. Hearing aids (HAs) are the main tool for HL rehabilitation; however, cost-utility analyses of HAs are limited. Our objective was to estimate the cost-utility of HAs use.

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Objective: Otosclerosis is an osteodystrophic disease of the otic capsule, determining conductive or mixed hearing loss, which can be successfully treated with stapedotomy. The aim of the present multicentric retrospective study was to identify prognostic factors related to better auditory outcomes in stapes surgery.

Methods: 581 patients affected by otosclerosis were submitted to stapedotomy under local anaesthesia in two different hospitals.

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Introduction: Hearing loss is known to play a fundamental role in voice production due to a lack of auditory feedback. In this study, we evaluated both fundamental frequency (F0) and loudness of voice on adult deaf patients subjected to cochlear implantation, and we analyzed these results according to the prelingual or postlingual onset of the deafness.

Methods: The study population, balanced in terms of sex, consisted of 32 adults who had undergone cochlear implantation due to severe or profound bilateral hearing loss (16 with prelingual deafness and 16 with postlingual deafness) and their outcomes were compared with a control group of 32 normal hearing (NH) subjects.

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