The edition · ENT & Head and Neck Surgery
A failed newborn hearing screen should trigger a CMV test within weeks
The German congenital CMV guideline sets a three-week window for testing after a failed hearing screen, because antiviral treatment must start in the first month; early survivorship care is linked to better radiotherapy adherence in head and neck cancer; and two paediatric series question routine practice.
The edition in brief
An HNO summary of the 2025 German AWMF guideline on congenital cytomegalovirus says that when newborn hearing screening is abnormal on initial and repeat testing, CMV DNA PCR on urine or saliva should be done immediately and no later than the second to third week of life, so that antiviral treatment can start within the first 30 days, including for isolated hearing loss. A retrospective cohort of 471 patients with head and neck cancer found that attending a multidisciplinary survivorship clinic before finishing radiotherapy was associated with lower odds of non-adherence (OR 0.45) and better three-year disease-free survival (HR 0.61). A series of 1,734 paediatric tonsillotomies found coblation and microdebrider had similar bleeding and revision rates. A review of 144 children with very severe obstructive sleep apnoea found routine preoperative cardiac work-up was abnormal in only 3 of 38 tested, all obese adolescents with AHI above 50.
Survivorship care during radiotherapy linked to better adherence and survival
Worth bringing multidisciplinary survivorship support forward into the radiotherapy course for head and neck cancer.
Coblation and microdebrider tonsillotomy: similar bleeding and revision
Pick the tonsillotomy technique you do well; counsel parents of younger children about revision risk.
Routine cardiac work-up before adenotonsillectomy for severe OSA rarely helps
Target preoperative cardiac work-up at obese adolescents with very high AHI rather than every child with severe OSA.
Sudden hearing loss is an ENT emergency until proven otherwise
Sudden one-sided hearing loss with a clear canal needs tuning-fork tests and same-week ENT review.
Failed newborn hearing screen: test for congenital CMV within three weeks
Build urgent urine or saliva CMV PCR into the pathway for every baby who fails repeat newborn hearing screening.
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