Zara Patel, MD

September is World Sinus Health Awareness month!
Pondering awareness lead me to thinking about awareness on other levels in our lives.
I had the opportunity to share my thoughts regarding education, patients, and politics in this month’s American Academy of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery bulletin.

An excerpt:
“ Of course, a good physician does not blame the patient for thinking the way they do or accuse them of being liars or “sheep” for believing what another physician or health provider may have told them. They simply try and educate the patient as to why their opinion is different.

This daily practice of understanding should have created an army of empathetic physicians in our country, ready to consider evidence rationally, and collegially debate our differences, whether in science or politics. Yet, somehow, we cannot even agree on what “good evidence” is, or what “facts” are anymore, outside of our medical practices.”

The link to the full piece is here - hope you enjoy!

https://bulletin.entnet.org/aaohns-programs/article/22917584/perspective-education-patients-and-politics



Stanford OHNS
Stanford Medicine
Stanford University

🤓After investigating the use of PRP (platelet-rich plasma) in my patients for smell loss, we were curious about who else in otolaryngology is using this, for what indications, and has it proven to be as effective on other areas of our field?
👏🏼👏🏼Alireza Sharifi and Ali Kouhi did a wonderful job collecting and grading the existing data out there with me and putting together this systematic review for all of you!
📓If you’re interested in either using PRP for your patients or doing research in this field - this review is for you!
🔗Link to article: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38914822/




Stanford OHNS
Stanford Medicine

Utilization and efficacy of platelet-rich plasma and platelet-rich fibrin in otolaryngology: a systematic evidence-based review - PubMed PRP and PRF are safe, easy to use, and potentially effective treatment options for multiple otolaryngology pathologies. As an autologous material, there is no risk of immune reaction, and thus has been selected as a viable treatment option by many otolaryngologists. Larger studies would be helpful t...

Thanks for the highlight Without The White Coat!

The entire team of Stanford Rhinology (Zara Patel, MD, Dr. Michael Chang, Jayakar V Nayak MD, PhD, and Dr. Peter Hwang) attended this year’s combined International Rhinologic Society and International Symposium on Infection and Allergy of the Nose in 🇯🇵 Tokyo, Japan as invited faculty!

Covering wide-ranging rhinologic topics such as and , the team represented the best of Stanford OHNS and the American Rhinologic Society education to the world of Rhinology!

While lecturing on cutting-edge surgical techniques and treatment options for our patients, they also were excited to learn of all the new strategies to treat our patients being developed around the world. Each of our rhinologists believe deeply in being both and for the exponential benefit of our patients.

Feels really wonderful to be recognized by your colleagues! Congratulations to all my fellow physicians who are listed alongside me!

Stanford OHNS
Stanford Medicine
Stanford Health Care

Here’s a few examples of how I’ve been trying to realize Dr. King’s dream over the course of my career.
1. Shed light on the truth
2. Work to change that truth.

Now working to try and remove racial (and all other) bias from olfactory testing, and hopefully, eventually, screening for neurodegenerative disease.
Happy MLK Day!

Links to articles here:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37029607/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26915596/

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2473974X221075210

Teaching the next generation of sinus surgeons! 💕

🤗 Coming down off the extremely busy week at Academy (where it was wonderful seeing many of you!), I am even more excited to look ahead to next week where I get to teach and see colleagues and friends in the most amazing location - Santorini!
Thanks so much to Christos Georgalas MD PhD DLO FRCS(ORL-HNS) for this wonderful invitation!

🇬🇷 For any of my Greek friends and colleagues, if you haven’t yet registered, I would love to see you there - for that matter, anyone who can imagine that a quick jaunt to a Mediterranean island would do them some good should also come!
🔗Registration link here:

https://santorhino2023.concopco.com/en/Events/santorhino-2023/WebApp/Live/home

🤔Distrust of government, science, and medicine has skyrocketed in the last few years.
🧐Every interaction with the media is a chance for physicians and scientists to explain the scientific method and re-establish trust with the public by educating to the best of our ability.
That’s why I was happy to speak to CNN and several other news organizations today about the FDA hearing on removing phenylephrine from the shelves at your local CVS Pharmacy or Walgreens or Duane Reade or whatever your corner store/bodega may be.

"As we gain more information, recommendations may change, and that’s not a bad thing. That’s the wonderful thing about science. We can use new information and change our perspective."
Read more at the link here:

https://amp-cnn-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/09/11/health/fda-committee-phenylephrine/index.html
Stanford OHNS
Stanford Medicine

🤓Some brief thoughts on AI — and what we could potentially do (without relying on policy and regulation) to ensure a bright and compatible future with it - instead of the opposite. Thanks to American Academy of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery for inviting me to contribute this piece to the Bulletin.
Link to article:

https://bulletin.entnet.org/clinical-patient-care/article/22870852/artificial-intelligence-in-rhinology-otolaryngology-and-beyond



Stanford OHNS
Stanford Medicine
Stanford University
Stanford Health Care

⏰Second Edition out now!
Fred Lin and I thank all our amazing contributing authors for making this the best ENT study book ever.
💪🏼Ace your In-Service and Boards by starting prep now!
🤗Thank you to all the residents and fellows that let us know how much our 1st edition prep book helped you — you inspired us to create this update and make it even better!
🔗Click link to get the book in paper or on kindle.

https://www.amazon.com/ENT-Board-Prep-Otolaryngology-service-ebook/dp/B0BW6ZQV7G/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1693265219&refinements=p_27%3AZara+Patel&s=digital-text&sr=1-1&text=Zara+Patel

ENT Board Prep: High Yield Review for the Otolaryngology In-service and Board Exams ENT Board Prep: High Yield Review for the Otolaryngology In-service and Board Exams

Congratulations to David Mundy, and our co-authors Carol Yan and Matthew A. Tyler on this publication!
We ran this study before the pandemic and then life and academic research took a sharp turn to the left!
So happy we finally got back to getting this important study out there!
I truly think this will help so many surgeons - whether in training or already graduated - to perform sinus surgery more safely and confidently!

Link to publication here:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37578267/



Stanford OHNS
Stanford University
Stanford Medicine
Stanford Health Care

Feeling so grateful that Nina Bai from Stanford Medicine magazine took an interest in smell and wrote this piece on my patients and work. (Also a bit of imposter syndrome - the last Stanford Medicine Magazine featured a Nobel Prize winner! This is an amazing and humbling institution to be a part of.)

Posted • .med Zara Patel, MD, a sinus and skull base surgeon and smell specialist at Stanford Medicine, has dedicated her practice to our most underappreciated sense — smell. She sees the effect of its absence in her patients. “People tell me, ‘My life has gone gray. It’s really difficult to find joy in my life anymore,’” she said.

The standard treatments for the loss of smell often take months to work — if they do at all. But Patel has developed a faster, more successful treatment using platelets derived from a patient’s own blood. Link to story here:
https://lnkd.in/gS723qNy

📸:

🤗Thanks to this amazing surgical team (the ones pictured, and the ones that helped behind the scenes) for allowing our surgery this morning to broadcast flawlessly for Global Rhinology Network!
Hope everyone that tuned in enjoyed it, and I think there’s a way to view it later online through their website for those of you in different time zones who missed it!
😎Tumor is out, skull base intact, patient doing amazing. This job is a pretty great one. 💕

🎥Tune in this upcoming Friday, July 7 for a live surgery broadcast!
My case will start around 8am PST - it’s an inverted papilloma case that abuts the skull base - may or may not need skull base reconstruction depending on what tumor attachment looks like once we’re in there.
⚡️Should be a great educational case for all those interested, and many other cases will precede and follow mine by other excellent surgeons around the world, as part of this broadcast from Global Rhinology Network !!

Link for free registration here:
https://www.globalrhinology.org

🤗Feeling so grateful for all I’ve learned over the last year and the opportunity to be a Biodesign Fellow at Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign! Learning how to incorporate this incredible innovation process into my current and all future projects was awesome!
😵‍💫It felt ridiculous at times during these last several months when I was slammed in clinic and OR, interviewing for our fellowship, editing and publishing papers and traveling to teach at conferences around the world - while also being a student of this course and moving the development of my medical device forward — but in the end, it was definitely worth the crazy hours and insane schedule!

🙏🏼(And a major thank you to my fellows and .j.yong for holding down the fort countless times for me while I attended these classes.)

☑️I would recommend this to physicians innovating solutions for their patients in any field!

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📽️ Another Pre-Op Patient Education video is up on my YouTube channel! This time for Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery.

🗂️If you’re my patient and are about to undergo endoscopic skull base surgery, either for a pituitary tumor or other tumor involving the skull base, this is a great video to watch to learn everything you need to know about the surgery - from the ENT side of things - and what to expect as you recover, from the nasal/sinus perspective.
🔍If you’re not my patient, but you’re considering having this surgery performed by another surgeon, keep in mind that not all surgeons do things the same way, not everyone has the same level of training and expertise, and it’s best to speak to your own surgeon about what to expect and what the risks are.
🩺If you’re another provider, and you do things the same way I do, feel free to direct your patients towards watching this, but please make sure you go over all the risks and benefits of surgery with them individually.
Link to video here https://lnkd.in/gWnCe-np
Stanford OHNS

New YouTube videos posted!

https://youtu.be/pmvyOKHLoaY

1. Pre-Operative Endoscopic Sinus Surgery Patient Education Video
2. Pre-Operative Endoscopic Septoplasty and Inferior Turbinate Reduction Patient Education Video

🗂️For any patients who are thinking about undergoing sinus surgery or nasal surgery - this is for you! Specifically for my own patients, but also for all patients out there. Just keep in mind that not all surgeons do procedures the same way, and surgeons have different levels of training and expertise.
🩺For other physicians who perform surgery in the same way that I do, please feel free to direct your patients to view these videos if your typical pre- and post-op counseling is reflected within.

I hope everyone out there has a great experience with their surgeries and that you have excellent outcomes!


Stanford OHNS

It was Adminstrative Professionals Day yesterday! These people quietly work behind the scenes, enabling us to do everything we do in our academic careers!
This is my wonderful administrative assistant AgnesCelina V Ritter - Thank you Celina, for everything you do!!

Operating on little kids with tumors takes precision, skill, and a team effort - and the job continues even after surgery!

https://www.thieme-connect.com/products/ejournals/abstract/10.1055/a-2048-7564?device=mobile&innerWidth=412&offsetWidth=412&fbclid=PAAabLbMAGJbR5hDlZSZIzVaAdHz7JPiF-IcO-fuu5JxX8w9H1pErDmfP0C6Y
Stanford OHNS

🗝️Your ability to can be the key to unlocking a wide variety of underlying health issues. diseases such as and disease, underlying and disorders, , , and many many more.
📉Universal smell testing should be standard, and we can do much better than the current smell tests we use.
That’s why I’m developing a truly objective method of testing smell - that takes all the underlying barriers and biases out of the picture!
To learn more, read the full article here:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/smell-loss-tests-could-reveal-health-problems/






Stanford OHNS
Stanford Medicine
Stanford Health Care

🔘“She believed she could, so she did.”
Happy International Women’s Day and Women in Otolaryngology Day to all the amazing women out there!
🔘There will be times when no one believes you can do the thing you really want to do. They’ll say if no one else has done it before, who are you to be able to do it? Or they’ll say why do that when it seems so hard? Why not do something easier?
These are not ill-intentioned people. They are just lacking in imagination and belief.
🔘The truth is, there are times when you will only have yourself to push you forward. You will only have your own faith in yourself. It’s not always easy to keep that faith. It’s much easier to listen to all the noise, to allow the doubts of others to enter your mind and heart.
🔘Believe in yourself. And when you can, show others you believe in them too - it may be all they need to keep going. ❤️💪🏼💃🏻

It’s and the best way to help all those people without smell and taste is to keep pushing the field forward through rigorously performed clinical and basic science studies.
Here’s a sample of a few of mine over the years!

💕Stanford Skull Base Surgery team representing at the NASBS meeting for !!
🤗 Feeling so lucky I have such a talented surgical colleague in Juan C. Fernandez-Miranda and amazing fellows past and present Michael Chang Ahmed Mohyeldin Karam Asmaro (we missed you Peter Hwang, Jayakar Nayak Christine Lee and Michael Yong
Also such an awesome anatomy team with a love for learning and research Vera Vigo José Chang MD. and all the rest!

🤩Proud of my team at Stanford Rhinology , especially our past fellow Ashoke Khanwalkar (now teaching and practicing at University of Colorado Department of Otolaryngology) for bringing this looking at use of TXA in post-operative bleeding rates to fruition!

🤓The most interesting take-away from this study for me was our extremely low baseline post-op bleeding rate, which is likely why no difference was found when adding TXA.
🩸Traditionally bleeding has been considered one of the most common and expected events after - This just goes to show that precise, delicate surgical technique, the improved technology and instrumentation we now have, and dedicated training allows our patients a much easier (and less bloody!) recovery!

If you or a loved one (or a patient of yours!) needs sinus surgery - this data suggests the Sinus Center at Stanford Health Care is the place to get it!

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36608352/

is a wrap!
So wonderful to see so many old friends and colleagues and also meet new ones!
Spoke about surgery, and !

🤓💉🩸🦠 For those interested in taking a deeper dive into our recent study to treat related smell loss, take a listen to this podcast from IFAR, official journal of the The American Rhinologic Society ! Carol Yan and I speak with Sarah Wise about why I started studying , the detailed numbers and stats of the study, and what the future holds for both of us with regard to research!

Th full podcast is at this link here:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/scope-it-out/id1085829406?i=1000593188248

Stanford Medicine Stanford Health Care

🧐Much discussed and theorized, here is some data behind the decreased evidence of dysfunction seen with
🤨I suspect the amount of loss and distortion will continue to vary over time as new variants inevitably arise, but we can count ourselves lucky that this trend away from is occurring.
🤔However, although the definitely has less smell loss associated with it than the original and delta variants, my clinic is now showing a slight uptick again with - and we can’t forget about the millions already affected by in this way.
💪🏼Let’s keep working on this vast problem for our patients!
Link to full article here (early publication, not yet typeset):

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/alr.23089

and starting off the The American Rhinologic Society meeting strong! Both and did an amazing job presenting our work - and BOTH were selected to present in the Best Clinical Abstracts of this meeting!
Amazing job guys! So proud of both of you! 🤩