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Background: The spiral ganglion hypothesis suggests that pathogenic variants in genes preferentially expressed in the spiral ganglion nerves (SGN), may lead to poor cochlear implant (CI) performance. It was long thought that TMPRSS3 was particularly expressed in the SGNs. However, this is not in line with recent reviews evaluating CI performance in subjects with TMPRSS3-associated sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) reporting overall beneficial outcomes. These outcomes are, however, based on variable follow-up times of, in general, 1 year or less. Therefore, we aimed to 1. evaluate long-term outcomes after CI implantation of speech recognition in quiet in subjects with TMPRSS3-associated SNHL, and 2. test the spiral ganglion hypothesis using the TMPRSS3-group. Methods: This retrospective, multicentre study evaluated long-term CI performance in a Dutch population with TMPRSS3-associated SNHL. The phoneme scores at 70 dB with CI in the TMPRSS3-group were compared to a control group of fully genotyped cochlear implant users with post-lingual SNHL without genes affecting the SGN, or severe anatomical inner ear malformations. CI-recipients with a phoneme score ≤ 70% at least 1-year post-implantation were considered poor performers and were evaluated in more detail. Results: The TMPRSS3 group consisted of 29 subjects (N = 33 ears), and the control group of 62 subjects (N = 67 ears). For the TMPRSS3-group, we found an average phoneme score of 89% after 5 years, which remained stable up to 10 years post-implantation. At both 5 and 10-year follow-up, no difference was found in speech recognition in quiet between both groups (p = 0.830 and p = 0.987, respectively). Despite these overall adequate CI outcomes, six CI recipients had a phoneme score of ≤ 70% and were considered poor performers. The latter was observed in subjects with residual hearing post-implantation or older age at implantation. Conclusion: Subjects with TMPRSS3-associated SNHL have adequate and stable long-term outcomes after cochlear implantation, equal to the performance of genotyped patient with affected genes not expressed in the SGN. These findings are not in line with the spiral ganglion hypothesis. However, more recent studies showed that TMPRSS3 is mainly expressed in the hair cells with only limited SGN expression. Therefore, we cannot confirm nor refute the spiral ganglion hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pathogenic variants in SLC26A4 have been associated with autosomal recessive hearing loss (arHL) and a unilateral or bilateral enlarged vestibular aqueduct (EVA). SLC26A4 is the second most frequently mutated gene in arHL. Despite the strong genotype–phenotype correlation, a significant part of cases remains genetically unresolved. In this study, we investigated a cohort of 28 Dutch index cases diagnosed with HL in combination with an EVA but without (M0) or with a single (M1) pathogenic variant in SLC26A4. To explore the missing heritability, we first determined the presence of the previously described EVA-associated haplotype (Caucasian EVA (CEVA)), characterized by 12 single nucleotide variants located upstream of SLC26A4. We found this haplotype and a delimited V1-CEVA haplotype to be significantly enriched in our M1 patient cohort (10/16 cases). The CEVA haplotype was also present in two M0 cases (2/12). Short- and long-read whole genome sequencing and optical genome mapping could not prioritize any of the variants present within the CEVA haplotype as the likely pathogenic defect. Short-read whole-genome sequencing of the six M1 cases without this haplotype and the two M0/CEVA cases only revealed previously overlooked or misinterpreted splice-altering SLC26A4 variants in two cases, who are now genetically explained. No deep-intronic or structural variants were identified in any of the M1 subjects. With this study, we have provided important insights that will pave the way for elucidating the missing heritability in M0 and M1 SLC26A4 cases. For pinpointing the pathogenic effect of the CEVA haplotype, additional analyses are required addressing defect(s) at the RNA, protein, or epigenetic level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Correction to: Human Genetics https://doi.org/10.1007/s00439-021-02336-6 In the original article published, the affiliation of the 3rd author Cornelis P. Lanting is published incorrectly. Hearing and Genes, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands The original article has been corrected. [Extracted from the article]

Abstract Background Medication can be effective but can also be harmful and even cause hospital admissions. Medication review or pharmacotherapy review has often been proposed as a solution to prevent these admissions and to improve the effectiveness and safety of pharmacotherapy. However, most published randomised controlled trials on pharmacotherapy reviews showed no or little effect on morbidity and mortality. Therefore we designed the PHARM (Preventing Hospital Admissions by Reviewing Medication)-study with the objective to study the effect of the total pharmaceutical care process on medication related hospital admissions and on adverse drug events, survival and quality of life. Methods/Design The PHARM-study is designed as a cluster randomised, controlled, multi-centre study in an integrated primary care setting. Patients with a high risk of a medication related hospital admission are included in the study with randomisation at GP (general practitioner) level. We aim to include 14200 patients, 7100 in each arm, from at least 142 pharmacy practices. The intervention consists of a patient-centred, structured, pharmaceutical care process. This process consists of several steps, is continuous and occurrs over multiple encounters of patients and clinicians. The steps of this pharmaceutical care process are a pharmaceutical anamnesis, a review of the patient's pharmacotherapy, the formulation and execution of a pharmaceutical care plan combined with the monitoring and follow up evaluation of the care plan and pharmacotherapy. The patient's own pharmacist and GP carry out the intervention. The control group receives usual care. The primary outcome of the study is the frequency of hospital admissions related to medication within the study period of 12 months of each patient. The secondary outcomes are survival, quality of life, adverse drug events and severe adverse drug events. The outcomes will be analysed by using mixed-effects Cox models. Discussion The PHARM-study is one of the largest controlled trials to study the effectiveness of the total pharmaceutical care process. The study should therefore provide evidence as to whether such a pharmaceutical care process should be implemented in the primary care setting. Trial Registration Trial number: NTR 2647

A 63-year-old man was admitted to hospital for septicaemia and severe metastatic skin infection, 24h after he had eviscerated fresh eels. V. vulnificus was isolated from his blood and wounds. The strain was indole negative, was ornithine decarboxylase positive and grew at 42°C. A strain of V. vulnificus with these characteristics was isolated in 1987 from diseased eels. The characteristics differed from those of V. vulnificus strains (biogroup 1) that have been reported from patients world-wide. V. vulnificus biogroup 1 was isolated from 3 of 11 seawater samples collected along the coast of the Netherlands, but indole negative strains of V. vulnificus were not isolated. We conclude that an indole-negative variant of V. vulnificus is pathogenic for eels and for human beings and that eels may transmit V. vulnificus to humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to document the prevalence, severity, and risk factors of velopharyngeal dysfunction (VPD) in craniofacial microsomia (CFM) and to analyse differences in VPD-related speech characteristics between CFM patients without cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P), CFM patients with CL/P, and CL/P patients without CFM (control). A total of 223 patients with CFM were included, of whom 59 had a CL/P. Thirty-four CFM patients had VPD, including 20 with a CL/P. VPD was significantly more prevalent in CFM with CL/P than in CFM without CL/P (odds ratio (OR) 4.1, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.9-8.7; P < 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression showed a significant association between CL/P and VPD in CFM patients (OR 7.4, 95% CI 2.1-26.3; P = 0.002). The presence of VPD was not associated with sex, the laterality or severity of CFM. Speech problems related to VPD appeared to be similar among the different groups (CFM without CL/P, CFM with CL/P, CL/P without CFM). As 15.2% of all CFM patients and 8.5% of CFM patients without CL/P had VPD, it is proposed that all patients with CFM, with or without CL/P, should be assessed by a speech and language therapist for the potential risk of VPD., Competing Interests: Competing interests None., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background  The best timing of closure of the hard palate in individuals with cleft lip, alveolus, and palate (CLAP) to reach the optimal speech outcomes and maxillary growth is still a subject of debate. This study evaluates changes in compensatory articulatory patterns and resonance in patients with unilateral and bilateral CLAP who underwent simultaneous closure of the hard palate and secondary alveolar bone grafting (ABG). Methods  A retrospective study of patients with nonsyndromic unilateral and bilateral CLAP who underwent delayed hard palate closure (DHPC) simultaneously with ABG at 9 to 12 years of age from 2013 to 2018. The articulatory patterns, nasality, degree of hypernasality, facial grimacing, and speech intelligibility were assessed pre- and postoperatively. Results  Forty-eight patients were included. DHPC and ABG were performed at the mean age of 10.5 years. Postoperatively hypernasal speech was still present in 54% of patients; however, the degree of hypernasality decreased in 67% ( p  < 0.001). Grimacing decreased in 27% ( p  = 0.015). Articulation disorders remained present in 85% ( p  = 0.375). Intelligible speech (grade 1 or 2) was observed in 71 compared with 35% of patients preoperatively ( p  < 0.001). Conclusion  This study showed an improved resonance and intelligibility following DHPC at the mean age of 10.5 years, however compensatory articulation errors persisted. Sequential treatments such as speech therapy play a key role in improvement of speech and may reduce remaining compensatory mechanisms following DHPC., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest None declared., (The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ).)

Objectives: Digital endoscopes are connected to a video processor that applies various operations to process the image. One of those operations is edge enhancement that sharpens the image. The purpose of this study was to (1) quantify the level of edge enhancement, (2) measure the effect on sharpness and image noise, and (3) study the influence of edge enhancement on image quality perceived by ENT professionals., Methods: Three digital flexible endoscopic systems were included. The level of edge enhancement and the influence on sharpness and noise were measured in vitro, while systematically varying the levels of edge enhancement. In vivo images were captured at identical levels of one healthy larynx. Each series of in vivo images was presented to 39 ENT professionals according to a forced pairwise comparison test, to select the image with the best image quality for diagnostic purposes. The numbers of votes were converted to a psychometric scale of just noticeable differences (JND) according to the Thurstone V model., Results: The maximum level of edge enhancement varied per endoscopic system and ranged from 0.8 to 1.2. Edge enhancement increased sharpness and noise. Images with edge enhancement were unanimously preferred to images without edge enhancement. The quality difference with respect to zero edge enhancement reaches an optimum at levels between 0.7 and 0.9., Conclusion: Edge enhancement has a major impact on sharpness, noise, and the resulting perceived image quality. We conclude that ENT professionals benefit from this video processing and should verify if their equipment is optimally configured., Level of Evidence: NA Laryngoscope, 134:842-847, 2024., (© 2023 The Authors. The Laryngoscope published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.)

Background Medication-related harm is a major problem in healthcare. New models of integrated care are required to guarantee safe and efficient use of medication. Aim To prevent medication-related harm by integrating a clinical pharmacist in the general practice team. This best practice paper provides an overview of 1. the development of this function and the integration process and 2. its impact, measured with quantitative and qualitative analyses. Setting Ten general practices in the Netherlands. Development and implementation of the (pragmatic) experiment We designed a 15-month workplace-based post-graduate learning program to train pharmacists to become clinical pharmacists integrated in general practice teams. In close collaboration with general practitioners, clinical pharmacists conduct clinical medication reviews (CMRs), hold patient consultations for medication-related problems, carry out quality improvement projects and educate the practice staff. As part of the Pharmacotherapy Optimisation through Integration of a Non-dispensing pharmacist in a primary care Team (POINT) intervention study, ten pharmacists worked full-time in general practices for 15 months and concurrently participated in the training program. Evaluation of this integrated care model included both quantitative and qualitative analyses of the training program, professional identity formation and effectiveness on medication safety. Evaluation The integrated care model improved medication safety: less medication-related hospitalisations occurred compared to usual care (rate ratio 0.68 (95% CI: 0.57-0.82)). Essential hereto were the workplace-based training program and full integration in the GP practices: this supported the development of a new professional identity as clinical pharmacist. This new caregiver proved to align well with the general practitioner. Conclusion A clinical pharmacist in general practice proves a feasible integrated care model to improve the quality of drug therapy., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Objective: The research questions of this study are 1) How do pharmacists respond to negative emotions of patients during a clinical medication review (CMR)? 2) How do patients express negative emotions during a CMR? 3) Who (pharmacist or patient) initiates a negative emotion to be discussed during a CMR?, Methods: We used video-recordings to observe 132 CMR interviews of 49 pharmacists. Videos were coded with the Verona coding definitions on emotional sequences(-provider responses) (VR-CoDES(-P))., Results: In total 2538 negative emotions were identified, mainly expressed as cues (95.0 %). Often cues were expressed as verbal hints to hidden concerns (33.2 %) or were related to cognitive or physical causes (28.3 %).Three-quarters of the negative emotions were elicited by patients. 2670 pharmacists' responses were coded. The most common response was non-explicit providing space (77.6 %) and the least common response was explicit reducing space (5.8 %)., Conclusion: Pharmacists are mainly non-explicitly providing space in their responses. While this hinders their ability to capture patients' problems it also may enable patients to initiate topics., Practice Implications: Pharmacists are able to respond to patients' negative emotions. Training should focus on developing pharmacist's skills to be more explicit in their responses to get more in-depth knowledge of patients' problems., (Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Background and Purpose: Clinical pharmacists who work in the general practice settings bring an improvement to patient care and outcomes. Postgraduate training for an independent clinical role does not often occur in the primary health care setting. When it does, the design of the curriculum is infrequently based on interprofessional workplace learning principles and it does not always integrate practical experience with classroom-based learning activities. This could lead to situations where clinical pharmacists are insufficiently trained to apply clinical reasoning skills and direct patient care in the general practice setting., Educational Activity and Setting: A program was designed, including competencies and learning objectives, based on results from focus group interviews with stakeholders and the literature on interprofessional workplace learning. Ten participants were selected for a pilot run of the program and were asked several times for their opinion about the program., Findings: A 15-month training program was offered to pharmacists who became clinical pharmacists with the responsibility to perform patient consultations in general practice. The program was based on interprofessional workplace learning principles and facilitated the participants' skill in connecting the evidence, the patients' perspective and their own professional perspective. The 10 participating pharmacists were satisfied with the program., Discussion and Summary: The training program provided increased opportunities to clinical pharmacists to add value in general practice. The training program enabled pharmacists to advance their skills in direct patient care and to improve the alignment between different professionals in the primary care domain., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The quality of care for patients with cleft lip and palate is extremely variable across the world. Treatment protocols differ and methods of data registration are not uniform. Improving this care by means of comparative research is challenging. The best treatment programmes can be identified by uniformly registering patient-orientated outcomes and comparing the outcomes with those of other treatment centres. That knowledge can be used to improve one's own care. An international team consisting of specialists and cleft lip and palate patients has developed a set of outcome measures that are considered by patients to be most important. This team is coordinated by the International Consortium of Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM). The cleft lip and palate outcome set can be used by all centres worldwide in following up on cleft lip and palate patients. In the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, the 'Zorgmonitor Schisis' (Care Monitor Cleft Lip and Palate) has been built, an application in which these outcome measures are collected at fixed times. Implementing this set of outcome measures in other cleft lip and palate treatment centres and using the outcomes as (inter)national benchmarks will result in transparency and the improvement of the treatment of cleft lip and palate worldwide.

Background: Treatment of diabetes requires a strict treatment scheme which demands patient self-management. Pharmacists are in a good position to provide self-management support. This review examines whether pharmacist-led interventions to support self-management in diabetes patients improve clinical and patient-reported outcomes. Methods: This review was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines. An extended literature search was conducted with the keywords "pharmacist," "diabetes," and "self-management" using the electronic databases Pubmed, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library from the beginning of the database through September 2017. In addition reference lists of systematic reviews and included studies were searched. Eligibility criteria included; self-management intervention tested with an RCT, performed in an ambulatory care setting, led by a pharmacist and reporting at least one clinical- or patient-reported outcome. Primary outcomes were HbA1c (-as this is a clinical parameter for long-term diabetes follow-up), self-management and components of intervention. Secondary outcomes were blood glucose, blood pressure, BMI, lipids, adherence to medication, quality of life, and diabetes knowledge. For the meta-analysis HbA1c values were pooled with a random-effects model in Revman 5.3. Risk of bias was assessed with the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. Results: Twenty-four studies representing 3,610 patients were included. Pharmacist-led self-management interventions included education on diabetes complications, medication, lifestyle, and teaching of self-management skills. Some studies focused on patient needs through a tailored intervention. No key components for a successful self-management intervention could be identified. Pharmacist-led self-management interventions improve HbA1c levels with a mean of 0.71% (CI -0.91, -0.51; overall effect P < 0.0001) and had a positive effect on blood pressure (SBP -5.20 mm Hg [-7.58; -2.92], DBP -3.51 mmHg [-6.00; -1.01]), BMI (-0.49 kg/m2 [-0.79; -0.19]), lipids (total cholesterol -0.19 mmol/l [-0.33; -0.05], LDL-C mmol/l -0.16 [-0.26; -0.06], HDL-C 0.32 mmol/l [0.02; 0.61]), self-management skill development, and adherence to medication. Conclusion: Pharmacist-led self-management interventions significantly improve HbA1c values in diabetes patients. These results underline the added value of pharmacists in patient-related care. Pharmacists should offer self-management support to diabetes patients in order to improve diabetes outcomes.

Rationale, Aims, and Objectives: Pharmaceutical care involves patient-centred pharmacist activity to improve medicines management by patients. The implementation of this service in a comprehensive manner, however, requires considerable organisation and effort, and indeed, it is often not fully implemented in care settings. The main objective was to assess how pharmaceutical care provision within community pharmacy has evolved over time in Europe., Method: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey of community pharmacies, using a modified version of the Behavioural Pharmaceutical Care Scale (BPCS) was conducted in late 2012/early 2013 within 16 European countries and compared with an earlier assessment conducted in 2006., Results: The provision of comprehensive pharmaceutical care has slightly improved in all European countries that participated in both editions of this survey (n = 8) with progress being made particularly in Denmark and Switzerland. Moreover, there was a wider country uptake, indicating spread of the concept. However, due to a number of limitations, the results should be interpreted with caution. Using combined data from participating countries, the provision of pharmaceutical care was positively correlated with the participation of the community pharmacists in patient-centred activities, routine use of pharmacy software with access to clinical data, participation in multidisciplinary team meetings, and having specialized education., Conclusions: The present study demonstrated a slight evolution in self-reported provision of pharmaceutical care by community pharmacists across Europe, as measured by the BPCS. The slow progress suggests a range of barriers, which are preventing pharmacists moving beyond traditional roles. Support from professional bodies and more patient-centred community pharmacy contracts, including remuneration for pharmaceutical care services, are likely to be required if quicker progress is to be made in the future., (© 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Care of the patient with cleft lip and/or palate remains complex. Prior attempts at aggregating data to study the effectiveness of specific interventions or overall treatment protocols have been hindered by a lack of data standards. There exists a critical need to better define the outcomes-particularly those that matter most to patients and their families-and to standardize the methods by which these outcomes will be measured. This report summarizes the recommendations of an international, multidisciplinary working group with regard to which outcomes a typical cleft team could track, how those outcomes could be measured and recorded, and what strategies may be employed to sustainably implement a system for prospective data collection. It is only by agreeing on a common, standard set of outcome measures for the comprehensive appraisal of cleft care that intercenter comparisons can become possible. This is important for quality-improvement endeavors, comparative effectiveness research, and value-based health-care reform.

Background: Medication assessment tools (MATs) may be implemented in routine electronic data sources in order to identify patients with opportunities for optimisation of medication therapy management (MTM) and follow-up by a multi-disciplinary team., Objective: (1) To demonstrate the use of a MAT for cardiovascular conditions (MAT CVC) as a means of profiling potential opportunities for MTM optimisation in primary care and (2) to assess the performance of MAT CVC in identifying actual opportunities for better care., Setting: Members of a pharmacotherapy discussion group, i.e. two single-handed general practitioners (GPs), three GP partners, and community pharmacists (CPs) from each of two community pharmacies, in a rural part of the Netherlands., Methods: MAT CVC comprises 21 medication assessment criteria, each of which is designed to detect a specific care issue and to check whether it is 'addressed' by provision of guideline recommended care or 'open' in the presence ('open explained') or absence ('open unexplained') of pre-specified explanations for guideline deviations. (1) Relevant data was extracted from linked GP and CP electronic records and MAT CVC assessment was conducted to profile the population of CVC patients registered with both, participating CPs and GPs, in terms of 'open unexplained' care issues. (2) A purposive sample of patients with 'open unexplained' care issues was reviewed by each patient's GP., Main Outcome Measures: Number and proportion of 'open unexplained' care issues per MAT CVC criterion and per patient. The number of patients with MAT CVC detected 'open unexplained' care issues to be reviewed (NNR) in order to identify one that requires changes in MTM., Results: In 1,876 target group patients, MAT CVC identified 6,915 care issues, of which 2,770 (40.1 %) were 'open unexplained'. At population level, ten MAT CVC criteria had particularly high potential for quality improvement. At patient level, 1,277 (68.1 %) target group patients had at least one 'open unexplained' care issue. For patients with four or more 'open unexplained' care issues, the NNR was 2 (95 % CI 2-2)., Conclusion: The study demonstrates potential ways of using MA TCVC as a key component of a collaborative MTM system. Strategies that promote documentation and sharing of explanations for deviating from guideline recommendations may enhance the utility of the approach.

Purpose: Web-based intensive monitoring is a method to actively collect information about adverse drug reactions (ADRs) using patients as a source of information. To date, little is known about patients' motivation to participate in this kind of active post-marketing surveillance (PMS). Increased insight in this matter can help us to better understand and interpret patient reported information, and it can be used for developing and improving patient-based pharmacovigilance tools. The aim of this study is to gain insight into patients' motives for participating in active PMS and investigate their experiences with such a system., Method: A mixed model approach combining qualitative and quantitative research methods was used. For both parts, patients participating in a web-based intensive monitoring study about the safety of anti-diabetic drugs (excluding insulins) were used. A questionnaire was developed based on the results from qualitative interviews. The data collected through the questionnaires was analysed with descriptive statistics. Relations between patient characteristics and motives were analysed using a t-test or a Chi-squared test., Results: 1332 (54.6%) patients responded to the questionnaire. The main motive for participation was altruism. Often experiencing ADRs or negative experiences with drugs were not important motives. The patient's gender played a role in the different motives for participation. For men, potential future personal benefit from the results was more important than for women. The overall opinion about the system was positive., Conclusion: The knowledge that patients participate in this kind of research from an altruistic point of view may strengthen patient involvement in pharmacovigilance., (Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Background: Evaluation of the results of CO2 laser treatment of recurrent glottic carcinoma after radiotherapy., Methods: Records of all patients treated in the University Hospital Rotterdam and the Dr. Daniel den Hoed Cancer Center between 1980 and 1996 by CO2 laser for recurrent glottic carcinoma were studied., Results: Forty patients were treated by laser surgery. Average follow-up was 77 months. Twenty-three patients (58%) had another recurrence develop after laser surgery. Three were cured by a second laser procedure. Therefore, 20 patients (50%) were successfully treated with laser surgery. In 23 patients the recurrence did not extend into the anterior commissure; in 57% a total laryngectomy could be avoided. In 17 patients the recurrence did extend into the anterior commissure; in 41% a total laryngectomy was avoided., Conclusion: Most patients with recurrent carcinoma of the larynx after radiotherapy can be cured by laser surgery if the tumor does not extend into the anterior commissure.

Background: Chylous leakage is an uncommon complication after neck dissection for which several treatment modalities have been described in literature. It occurs in 1% to 2.5% of radical neck dissections, with the majority (75% to 92%) being on the left side. In a consecutive series of patients, we investigated the effect of a systematic approach to the complication., Methods: Over a period of 5 years, the drain production of 221 patients who underwent a neck dissection was analyzed. One hundred thirty-two right-sided and 139 left-sided neck dissections were performed. In 11 patients a chyle fistula occurred, 1 right-sided and 10 lift-sided. In all cases closed vacuum suction drainage was continued and dietary modifications (medium-chain triglycerides [MCT]/Peptison nasogastric tube feeding [PNTF]) were made., Results: In 5 patients dietary modifications were sufficient to stop the leak. In the other 6 patients total parenteral nutrition via the subclavian vein (TPN) was started. In 2 cases with a severe intractable hypoalbuminemia, surgical intervention was necessary. The leak was closed by a pectoralis major muscle flap transfer, after local application of fibrin sealant (Tissucol)., Conclusions: Chylous leakage is a controllable complication after neck dissection for which is most cases a stepwise conservative approach consisting of dietary modifications, maintaining closed vacuum suction drainage, seems to be sufficient. Hematologic and serum values should be monitored very carefully and corrected appropriately. To initiate planned postoperative radiotherapy in a timely fashion, the conservative treatment should be limited to about 30 days.