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Purpose: To evaluate the diagnostic performance (DP) of the high-resolution contrast computed tomography (HR-contrast-CT) based Neck-Persistency-Net in distinguishing vital from non-vital persistent cervical lymph nodes (pcLNs) in patients with advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) following primary concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CRT) with [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography and high-resolution contrast-enhanced computed tomography ([18F]FDG-PET-CT). Furthermore, the Neck-Persistency-Net's potential to justify omitting post-CRT neck dissection (ND) without risking treatment delays or preventing unnecessary surgery was explored. Methods: All HNSCC patients undergoing primary CRT followed by post-CRT-ND for pcLNs recorded in the institutional HNSCC registry were analyzed. The Neck-Persistency-Net DP was explored for three scenarios: balanced performance (BalPerf), optimized sensitivity (OptSens), and optimized specificity (OptSpec). Histopathology of post-CRT-ND served as a reference. Results: Among 68 included patients, 11 were female and 32 had vital pcLNs. The Neck-Persistency-Net demonstrated good DP with an area under the curve of 0.82. For BalPerf, both sensitivity and specificity were 78%; for OptSens (90%), specificity was 62%; for OptSpec (95%), sensitivity was 54%. Limiting post-CRT-ND to negative results would have delayed treatment in 27%, 40%, and 7% for BalPerf, OptSens and OptSpec, respectively, versus 23% for [18F]FDG-PET-CT. Conversely, restricting post-CRT-ND to positive results would have prevented unnecessary post-CRT-ND in 78%, 60%, and 95% for BalPerf, OptSens and OptSpec, respectively, versus 55% for [18F]FDG-PET-CT. Conclusion: The DP of the Neck-Persistency-Net was comparable to [18F]-FDG-PET-CT. Depending on the chosen decision boundary, the potential to justify the omission of post-CRT-ND without risking treatment delays in false negative findings or reliably prevent unnecessary surgery in false positive findings outperforms the [18F]-FDG-PET-CT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The Vibrant Soundbridge (VSB) is an established active-middle-ear-implant for patients with moderate-to-profound hearing-loss. This surgery is referred to as "Vibroplasty". Sufficient transfer of the VSB's floating-mass-transducers (FMT) energy to the inner ear is a crucial factor influencing the coupling-quality (CQ). However, assessing CQ is hamper by two issues: the method of CQ-assessment itself and the method of FMT-fixation during Vibroplasty. Methods: This prospective study explored the influence of intraoperative auditory-brainstem-response (+ ABR) measurements and various fixation methods on postoperative CQ after Vibroplasty as compared to matched-patients after Vibroplasty without intraoperative ABR (-ABR). Propensity-score-matching was performed based on preoperative bone-conduction-pure-tone-average-3 (BC-PTA3) at 1-, 2- and 4 kHz. Primary outcome parameters were postoperative CQ-PTA3, intraoperative ABR threshold for various fixation methods and postoperative BC-PTA3. Results: A total of 28 patients were included, of which 14 were + ABR. Preoperative BC-PTA3, sex, age, and number of previous surgeries did not differ significantly between groups (all p > 0.301). Mean postoperative CQ-PTA3 was significantly better for + ABR (1.8 vs. 12.3 dB-HL; p = 0.006). Mean intraoperative ABR threshold was superior for cartilage-counter-bearing and cartilage-housing compared to additional fixation with injectable-platelet-rich- fibrin (53 vs. 56 & 57 dB-HL, respectively; p = 0.04; η2 = 0.33). Mean postoperative BC-PTA3 did not significantly differ between patients (41.4 vs. 41.8 dB-HL; p = 0.77). A total of 7% of the patients required intraoperative readjustment of the FMT based on unsatisfactory intraoperative ABR threshold. Conclusion: Intraoperative ABR measurement resulted in significantly better postoperative CQ. Cartilage-counter-bearing and cartilage-housing were observed to have superior CQ. A total of 7% of the patients could be spared revision-Vibroplasty due to intraoperative ABR measurement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a correction notice for an article titled "The influence of intraoperative auditory brainstem responses on vibroplasty coupling-quality and analysis of the impact of different fixation steps on the coupling." The correction addresses an error in the original publication where the first and last names of authors Lia Bicego and Joachim Schmutzhard were swapped incorrectly. The corrected names are provided in this document. The publisher, Springer Nature, maintains a neutral stance on jurisdictional claims and institutional affiliations. The authors of the article are Daniel Dejaco, David Riedl, Timo Maria Gottfried, Matthias Santer, Annette Runge, Josef Seebacher, Philipp Zelger, Lia Bicego, and Joachim Schmutzhard. [Extracted from the article]

The original article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-023-07948-4. B Correction to: European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology b https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-023-07948-4 In the original publication of the article, first name and last names of all authors were swapped incorrectly. [Extracted from the article]