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Competing Interests: Die Autorinnen/Autoren geben an, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht.

Competing Interests: Die Autorinnen/Autoren geben an, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht.

Competing Interests: Die Autorinnen/Autoren geben an, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht.

Competing Interests: Die Autorinnen/Autoren geben an, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht.

Competing Interests: Die Autorinnen/Autoren geben an, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht.

Competing Interests: Die Autorinnen/Autoren geben an, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht.

Competing Interests: Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Competing Interests: Die Autorinnen/Autoren geben an, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht.

Competing Interests: Die Autorinnen/Autoren geben an, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht.

Introduction: Since December 2019, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been rapidly spreading worldwide. In Germany, an exponential increase in the number of infections was registered at the beginning of March 2020 and led to a call of the Ministry of Health to create more capacity for intensive medical treatment in hospitals. The aim of the present study was to determine the effects of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on Oto-Rhino-Laryngology (ORL) university hospitals regarding patient care., Materials and Methods: An online survey was sent out to all chairmen of the 39 ORL university hospitals in Germany. The answers to the questions referred to the defined period from March 15 th to April 15 th 2020 and were carried out using the online survey tool "SurveyMonkey". 87 questions focused on general information, health care, and structural effects in the respective institution., Results: All chairmen of the 39 university hospitals in Germany participated in the survey. The collected data prove the considerable impact on organizational, structural and medical aspects of patient care. For example, the surveyed clinics reported a decrease in outpatient cases by 73.8 % to 26.2 ± 14.2 % and in surgical treatments by 65.9 % to 34.1 ± 13.9 %. In contrast, emergency treatment remained unchanged or even increased in 80 % of the facilities and surgical treatment of emergency patients remained unchanged or even increased in more than 90 %. Emergency outpatient and surgical treatment of patients was provided throughout the pandemic in all facilities. In total, about 35 000 outpatients and about 12 000 surgical cases were postponed. As a result of the acute structural changes, the potential danger of falling below current treatment standards was seen in individual areas of patient care., Discussion: The assessment of the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is heterogeneous. The majority of the chairmen are critically aware of the risk of falling below current medical treatment standards or guidelines. In the phase of an exponential increase in the number of infections, significant changes in treatment processes had to be accepted for understandable reasons. However, with the currently significantly reduced number of infections, falling below treatment standards and guidelines should not be allowed to remain constant and tolerated., Summary: This study shows a differentiated picture with regard to the effects of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on outpatient, inpatient and operative patient care at the ORL university hospitals in Germany and illustrates the importance of these institutions for ensuring patient care during this critical phase., Competing Interests: Die Autorinnen/Autoren geben an, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht., (Thieme. All rights reserved.)

Background: An untreated hearing impairment could have a severe influence on the morbidity. The Mini-Audio-Test (MAT) has been developed for early detecting of a relevant hearing loss. This follow-up investigation should determine the sensitivity, specificity, and the predictive values for a minimum-level of detected hearing loss of 25, 30, 35, and 40 dB, both, in one octave-frequency between 0.5 and 4 kHz and the average of hearing loss for these four frequencies., Methods: This survey uses data which were collected in 2016 and 2017. 943 patients parted into two groups (aged 50 to 59 years and aged 60 years and more), were investigated using the MAT. Statistical analysis on the sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values in respect were done as proportions together with the 95 %-confidence interval by a logistic regression., Results: The sensitivity of the MAT was increasing in both groups of age by increasing the minimum of to be detected hearing loss. The specificity was decreasing as well, but less. The positive predictive values were higher for the older age-group and are decreasing by increasing of the minimum of to be detected hearing loss. In general, the values using the averaged hearing loss are noticeably lower than for the single frequency detecting. The values for the negative predictive values were contrary., Conclusion: The results for persons aged 60 years and more are worse than for the younger. Therefore, a first screening on hearing loss starting at the age of 50 years seems to be recommended urgently. Only by this, a sufficient rehabilitation of the hearing loss could be done in time so that the negative consequences of an untreated hearing impairment could be influenced positively., Competing Interests: Die Autorinnen/Autoren geben an, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht., (© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.)

The development of digital strategies in teaching is based on the technological progress of the last decades, but also on the strong motivation to focus a didactic concept on the learning individuals. The available data of German medical faculties indicate that digital teaching concepts currently play a subordinate role in medicine in general and specifically in otorhinolaryngology. By assessing data of our own institution, we could demonstrate that the majority of medical students refer mainly to material handed out by the lecturers as single source of information for learning Otorhinolaryngology. Therefore, the application of sound digital teaching strategies provides special chances, in particular in otorhinolaryngology to cope with the excessive amount of online information from partly unclear sources.Currently, the possible degree of digital teaching reaches from digital service supply via punctual provision of classic teaching concepts and blended learning up to completely digital curricula. The attractiveness of curricular integration of digital teaching strategies is less based on the utilization of merely technological progress, but rather on the variety of applying innovative curricula and new didactic concepts. Depending on the intended teaching purpose, the flipped classroom and the virtual reality seem to have a particularly high potential, while mobile learning is already established in individual practice. Testing and evaluating digital teaching innovations for concrete scenarios currently belongs to the most important scientific challenges of digital teaching concepts.Today, the nationwide implementation of digital teaching in Germany is less impeded by technical conditions, but by missing financing because sponsoring is currently mainly performed with reference to concrete projects; in the context of permanent implementation, however, regular costs arise. To support these promising teaching concepts, the sponsoring of institutions for digital teaching with provision of hard- and software solutions at universities could contribute significantly. Establishing cooperation to use such digital platforms might lead to a high efficiency regarding the distribution with simultaneously profiting of savings potential., Competing Interests: Dr. med. Tobias Dombrowski erhielt projektgebundene Drittmittel durch einen „Fellowship für Innovationen in der digitalen Hochschullehre“ des Stifterverbandes für die deutsche Wissenschaft. Prof. Dr. med. S. Dazert und Priv.-Doz. Dr. med. S. Volkenstein geben keine Interessenskonflikte an., (Eigentümer und Copyright ©Georg Thieme Verlag KG 2019.)

Background: In Germany, about 15 million people are suffering from hearing loss (HL), whereas only 16 % are using hearing aids. Untreated hearing loss may lead to severe complications (e. g. social isolation, depression, progress of dementia). An early and widespread screening, beginning at the age of 50, is meant to improve this shortage in medical care. By this study, the Mini-Audio-Test (MAT), a six-question and three-step answers containing questionnaire on subjective HL, should be verified on a normal collective of subjects (sensitivity (Se), specificity (Sp), positive predictive value (Ppv))., Methods: 943 subjects (older 50 years) without any history of ear disease answered the MAT and received pure-tone audiometry. The Se, Sp, and Pv to detect a relevant HL with the MAT for the age-group < 60 years (AG1) and ≥ 60 years (AG2) were determined., Results: The Se for AG1 was 0.66, the Sp 0.61, the Ppv 0.60, for AG2 the Se was 0.47, the Sp 0.80, the Ppv 0,89., Conclusion: Following our results, the MAT is recommended as a general screening-tool for HL in patients over 50 years of age for general practitioners. Hereby, severe secondary diseases (loss of cognitive power, risk of fall, depression, dementia) could be influenced positively., Competing Interests: Die Autoren geben an, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht., (© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.)

Competing Interests: Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Competing Interests: Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Vertigo is not a well defined symptom but a heterogenous entity diagnosed and treated mainly by otolaryngologists, neurologists, internal medicine and primary care physicians. Most vertigo syndroms have a good prognosis and management is predominantly conservative, whereas the need for surgical therapy is rare, but for a subset of patients often the only remaining option. In this paper, we describe the development of surgical therapy for hydropic inner ear diseases, Menière disease, dehiscence syndroms, perilymphatic fistulas, and benign paroxysmal vertigo. At the end, we shortly introduce the most recent development of vestibular implants. Surgical vestibular therapy is still indicated for selected patients nowadays when conservative options did not reduce symptoms and patients are still suffering. Success depends on the correct diagnosis and indication for the different procedures going along with an adequate patient selection. In regard to the invasiveness and the possible risks due to the surgery, in depth individual counselling is necessary. Ablative and destructive surgical procedures usually achieve a successful vertigo control, but go along with a high risk for hearing loss. Therefore, residual hearing has to be included in the decission making process for a surgical therapy., (© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.)

The majority of patients with moderate to severe hearing loss can be supplied with conventional hearing aids depending on severity and cause for hearing loss in a satisfying way. However, some patients either do not benefit enough from conventional hearing aids or cannot wear them due to inflammatory reactions and chronic infections of the external auditory canal or due to anatomical reasons. For these patients there are fully- and semi-implantable middle ear and bone conduction implants available. These devices either directly stimulate the skull (bone conduction devices), middle ear structures (active middle ear implants) or the cochlea itself (direct acoustic stimulation). Patients who failed surgical hearing rehabilitation or do not benefit from conventional hearing aids may achieve a significant better speech understanding and tremendous improvement in quality of life by implantable hearing devices with careful attention to the audiological and anatomical indication criteria., (© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.)

Background: Oropharyngeal cancer is a diagnosis which means a change in life and even after successful treatment a tremendous reduction in the quality of life. Aim of this study is to analyse the health-related quality of life in patients with oropharyngeal cancer dependent on different treatment options., Methods and Patients: Charts of 256 patients treated for oropharyngeal cancer between 1997 and 2007 were analysed in a retrospective study. Inclusion criteria for this study has been fulfilled by 98 patients, 82 of these completed the study. Therefore, standardised questionnaires (EORTC QLQ-C30 und EORTC QLQ-H&N35) have been used and 2 groups were compared: patients with primary radiochemotherapy (pRCT) vs. patients treated by an operation and adjuvant radiation., Results: Most of the health-related quality of life domains in our patients were significantly reduced compared to the general population. There have been just very few significant differences in the quality of life domains in between the 2 groups., Conclusions: Health-related quality of life after treatment of oropharyngeal cancer is significantly compromised for these patients compared to the general population, but there have been no obvious differences depending on the compared treatment options. Only regarding the items "physical and cognitive functioning" patients after primary radiochemotherapy showed significantly better results and thus a better quality of life, despite the fact, that this group has a significantly advanced cancer stadium., (© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.)

Background: Utilising the enormous proliferation and multi-lineage differentiation potentials of somatic stem cells represents a possible therapeutical strategy for diseases of non-regenerative tissues like the inner ear. In the current study, the possibility of murine neural stem cells to contribute to the developing inner ear following blastocyst injection was investigated., Methods: Fetal brain-derived neural stem cells from the embryonic day 14 cortex of male mice were isolated and expanded for four weeks in neurobasal media supplemented with bFGF and EGF. Neural stem cells of male animals were harvested, injected into blastocysts and the blastocysts were transferred into pseudo-pregnant foster animals. Each blastocyst was injected with 5-15 microspheres growing from single cell suspension from neurospheres dissociated the day before. The resulting mice were investigated six months POST PARTUM for the presence of donor cells. Brainstem evoked response audiometry (BERA) was performed in six animals. To visualize donor cells Lac-Z staining was performed on sliced cochleas of two animals. In addition, the cochleas of four female animals were isolated and genomic DNA of the entire cochlea was analyzed for donor contribution by Y-chromosome-specific PCR., Results: All animals had normal thresholds in brainstem evoked response audiometry. The male-specific PCR product indicating the presence of male donor cells were detected in the cochleas of three of the four female animals investigated. In two animals, male donor cells were detected unilateral, in one animal bilateral., Conclusion: The results suggest that descendants of neural stem cells are detectable in the inner ear after injection into blastocysts and possess the ability to integrate into the developing inner ear without obvious loss in hearing function.

Background: Cancer surgery, malformation or trauma may cause broad facial defects that cannot be covered by patients because of their exposed site. Such defects lead to functional deficits and enormous psychological strain and require rehabilitation at all ages. Prosthetic supply has been developed into a functional and aesthetic alternative to plastic and reconstructive surgery., Methods and Patients: The condensed experience with prosthetic supply after persistent surgical defects of more than twenty patients during the recent years is described., Results: Efficient prosthetic supply in the exposed facial area requires a well scheduled and close cooperation between the surgeon and anaplastologist. Preoperative diagnostic evaluation and operative filling of the magnetic fixation in cooperation with the anaplastologist provide a satisfying functional and cosmetic prosthetic outcome for the patient. Advantages of this procedure combine early cosmetic rehabilitation with the option to directly investigate the tumor site after resection. Novel magnet systems provide a high degree of flexibility combined with confident fixation., Conclusions: Prosthetic rehabilitation should be offered and discussed with patients ahead of cancer surgery in the head and neck area. This procedure should be considered in particular in patients that reject or are not feasible for multi-step reconstructive surgery.