Undergraduate perceptions on the educational value of a novel ENT e-Learning platform.

ENT is a consistently under-represented specialty in medical school curricula. With social distancing measures limiting face-to-face (FtF) teaching and clinical opportunities, we created an e-Learning platform to consolidate and improve knowledge on common ENT emergencies. Following invitation to medical students undergoing their rotation in ENT at University Hospital Wales (UHW) Cardiff, five focus groups were shown an e-Learning module and interviewed between June and July 2021. 13 medical students participated in total (9 female, 4 male, median age 22 years). These structured interviews were recorded and transcribed. Transcripts were analysed using the qualitative data analysis software NVivo (QSR International, UK). The modules were found to be concise, clinically relevant and beneficial to student confidence in recognising and managing ENT emergencies. While e-Learning will likely never replace face-to-face learning, it was perceived to be a beneficial resource both academically and practically- especially in the context of limited clinical opportunities.

The future of artificial intelligence in facial plastic surgery.

The role of artificial intelligence is emergent in facial plastic surgery. It offers specialists a potentially precise and efficient method of understanding our technical skills and pathways, and their impacts on patient outcomes and error rates. Algorithms have given life to personalised pre-operative assessment, surgical planning and outcome simulation, and post-operative monitoring. Despite these benefits, limitations at this time include the ethical acquisition of large datasets, biases produced by human input and trust in novel technologies. Careful consideration should be given to the role artificial intelligence may play in shaping the patient-surgeon relationship in the near future.

IgG4-related disease of the mastoid: a rare presentation of a novel diagnosis.

IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is an inflammatory condition characterised by infiltration of tissue by IgG4-positive plasma cells. This is the seventh reported case of IgG4-RD affecting the mastoid and informs clinicians in diagnosing patients affected by this rare condition.A woman in her 20s presented with unilateral otalgia, hearing loss and vertigo. She deteriorated despite antibiotic therapy and cross-sectional imaging revealed a destructive extra-axial lesion of the mastoid cells. Biopsy confirmed a diagnosis of IgG4-RD. She was successfully treated with prednisolone and azathioprine.Inflammatory conditions should be considered in patients with persistent middle ear symptoms after infection and malignancy are excluded. Delays in diagnosis can lead to irreversible mass effects and may occur as current diagnostic criteria exclude mastoid-specific features.IgG4-RD remains a rare diagnosis. To avoid significant effects on a patients' quality of life, prompt multidisciplinary treatment is vital alongside development of diagnostic criteria specific to otolaryngology.