After seven years of editing the Australian Supplement, this will be my last editorial. I believe the association with the JLO has been a great success, and this has now allowed us to produce two consecutive supplements with 100 per cent Australian content.
There is no doubt that Australian academic otolaryngology is in a good place, due in no small part to the Garnett Passe and Rodney Williams Memorial Foundation. It is encouraging to hear the Foundation has new ideas to ensure that past progress is built upon and academic growth continues well into the future. In addition to the established chairs and full-time clinical academic positions, many surgeons with visiting medical officer or part-time staff contracts also have active research programmes, often involving basic science as well as clinical aspects. This all bodes well for the future of this publication.
In this edition of the Supplement, we have three review articles. Two assess variously the controversial topic of sub-total tonsil surgeryReference Wood, Cho and Carney1 and the rare but devastating condition of bilateral sudden onset sensorineural hearing loss.Reference Sara, Teh and Friedland2 The third is perhaps the most extensive review to date of the epidemiology of chronic otitis media in Australian Indigenous children.Reference Jervis-Bardy, Sanchez and Carney3
Rhinology research dominates the original research section, with papers looking at irrigation bottle contamination,Reference Tan, Drilling, Jardeleza and Wormald4 patients' perception of which side of the nose is blocked,Reference Chin, Malek, Pratt, Marcells, Sacks and Harvey5 and the positive and negative aspects of home-made nasal irrigation solutions.Reference Lilic, Waldvogel-Thurlow and Douglas6 Frey's syndrome can be a troublesome complication following parotid surgery, and a paper outlining the clinical and aesthetic outcomes of free fat grafting completes this section.Reference Chan, Barakate and Havas7
Two case reports on novel techniques for managing rare conditions complete the supplement.Reference Shilton, Hodgson and Burgess8, Reference Sim and Vijayasekaran9
I wish my successor every success and would like to thank the Editorial Board for their hard work and support over the years, in addition to the reviewers, who ensure that published papers remain of a high quality. Finally, the staff and editorial team at the JLO and the ASOHNS council and staff have provided the enthusiasm and resources to make it all happen. I will be forever in their debt.
