A new collaboration between Washington University hearing scientists and colleagues at Northwestern University hopes to shed new light on both the mechanisms of hearing loss and the optimization of cochlear implant outcomes. The collaboration is an integral part of an NIH grant awarded to WashU Associate Professor of Otolaryngology Mark Rutherford, PhD, and Jeffrey Savas, […]
Washington University ENT surgeons have launched a clinical trial to help patients who have lost their sense of smell due to COVID-19. The study, led by Department of Otolaryngology rhinologist Nyssa Farrell, MD, hopes to help patients recover olfactory function with injections of a local anesthetic. The study has reached its recruitment goal of 20 […]
Thomas Lenarz, MD, PhD, professor and chair of the department of Otolaryngology at Hannover Medical School (Germany) provided a stimulating Senturia Lecture to the Department of Otolaryngology at Washington University School of Medicine on Oct. 26. His talk, “Hearing4All: functional restoration of hearing using auditory devices,” highlighted the broad advances in medicine and technology that […]
The laboratory of Lavinia Sheets, PhD, at Washington University School of Medicine may have discovered the cause of hearing loss due to cisplatin, a common chemotherapy agent used to treat many cancer patients. Sheets serves as assistant professor of otolaryngology at WashU. The work was largely conducted by otolaryngology resident David Lee, MD, who presented […]
Thomas Lenarz, MD, PhD, will give the 2022 annual Senturia Lectureship to the Department of Otolaryngology at Washington University School of Medicine. The title of his presentation will be, Hearing4All: functional restoration of hearing using auditory devices. Lenarz studied medicine and biochemistry at universities in London and Tübingen, Erlangen, and Heidelberg, Germany, from 1975 until […]
The American Cochlear Implant Alliance has awarded a $30,000 grant to Department of Otolaryngology researchers to study under-utilization of cochlear implants in the U.S. The objectives of the study, Adult Cochlear Implant Utilization in the United States: A Nationwide Analysis, are to: Better describe the under-utilization of cochlear implants across the U.S. to significant geographic […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has expanded coverage for cochlear implantation, making the procedure available to millions of additional individuals with hearing loss. Washington University faculty, including Lindburg Professor and Chair Craig A. Buchman, MD, have spent years working in support of the expanded coverage. In 2014, Buchman and colleagues – Teresa […]
Faculty, fellows and residents from the Department of Otolaryngology at Washington University shared their latest research and surgical expertise at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNSF) in Philadelphia, Sept. 10-14. WashU ENT contributions by specialty included the following: Otology/Neurotology Slim Modiolar vs. Lateral Wall Electrode Arrays in the […]
Understanding the cellular and molecular responses that underlie cochlear implant-induced fibrosis (scar tissue) and neo-ossification (new bone formation) has been hampered by the lack of a suitable animal model for research. Cochlear implantation provides enhanced hearing for thousands of hearing-impaired Americans each year. And, with expanded criteria allowing health insurance to cover severe hearing loss […]
The Department of Otolaryngology at Washington University School of Medicine stays at the cutting edge of medical practice by conducting research related to all its clinical specialties. A small sample of that research, published since the beginning of 2022, is shared below, along with a brief description of why the contribution is important to the […]