Referral information

Address: 
Öron-näs-halsmottagning 
Akademiska sjukhuset 
Ingång 78/79 
751 85 Uppsala

About our services

We have a very broad collaboration with other organisations at Uppsala University Hospital. Examples of this multidisciplinary collaboration include the treatment of acoustic tumours, brainstem implants and tumours throughout the ear, nose and throat.

Hearing and balance section

We diagnose patients with hearing and balance disorders, and treat patients with tinnitus. We also have a cochlear implant team within the ward. Patients are referred from both outpatient and inpatient care, mainly from Uppsala County but also from the rest of the country.

Approximately 2500 patients come to the doctor's surgery every year

We treat about 1200 patients annually for tinnitus and provide about 7000 patients for hearing and balance examinations. Our aim is to provide the patient with a clear diagnosis and explanation with treatment suggestions as soon as possible. Prompt care and diagnosis of sudden hearing loss and newly recognised hearing loss in children is particularly important.

Respiratory section

We treat diseases related to the airway, voice and swallowing.

Examples of airway problems that we treat include narrowing and paralysis of the larynx, tumours of the trachea and bronchi that threaten the airway, malformations of the larynx and oesophagus, and conditions that require long-term tracheostomy. A new speciality is young people with exercise-induced airway obstruction.

The section includes phoniatrics, i.e. voice and speech disorders, where problems with the voice are investigated so that the patient can receive the best possible help in the form of speech therapy, surgery or a combination of methods.

The section also investigates and treats oesophageal diseases such as strictures, diverticulitis and achalasia.

The Section is involved in several cross-discipline collaborations. We are involved in respiratory care together with the intensive care units, thoracic and pulmonary diseases. Oesophageal issues are managed together with the Upper Gastrointestinal Diseases team of the Surgical Division and gastroenterologists. We have a broad interface with the children's hospital for respiratory problems in infancy, paediatric surgical diseases of the oesophagus and respiratory tract, and swallowing and feeding problems. A respiratory consultant is available by telephone during office hours on weekdays, to be contacted via the switchboard. He or she can advise on advanced respiratory problems, receive referrals for respiratory issues both internally and externally, and more. Requests for tracheotomy are handled by the on-call consultant for ear, nose and throat diseases, who also responds to emergencies and handles urgent cases.

Otology section

The section is part of the Ear, Nose and Throat Department. The service performs advanced remedial and reconstructive middle ear surgery, hearing enhancement surgery and implantable hearing solutions such as cochlear implants and bone conduction implants. Together with the neurosurgeon, skull base surgery is also performed.

Activities include temporal bone surgery such as cholesteatoma, chronic otitis, otosclerosis, cochlear implants, ear malformation/atresia and tumour surgery.

We want to offer our patients and referrers a high quality of care and continuity. Around 250 surgical procedures were performed in 2023.

In 2023, together with the neurosurgeon, 12 skull base operations were performed, mainly for vestibular schwannomas, which was the highest number of operations in the country.  This cooperation also includes brainstem implant surgery.

The Otology Section also participates as a unit in the multidisciplinary care of patients with paragangliomas ("glomus tumours"), as part of the mission of Uppsala University Hospital for National Highly Specialised Care (NHV).

The section also works closely with the Hearing and Balance Section at the clinic and also with the Uppsala Region Hearing Centre. This concerns patients 
with hearing loss where surgery with cochlear implants or other implantable hearing solutions are considered. 48 cochlear implant operations were performed in 2023.

Another pillar is research and education. The Section conducts active research and participates in national and international conferences. We welcome interested colleagues for short or long term training, and actively co-operate with otosurgical colleagues in other regions.

Rhinology and outpatient section

Outpatient care includes the ENT clinic and the day surgery ward 79 E. The clinic and the day surgery ward are service units for all ENT diseases. We see over 15,000 patients a year at the clinic. We are on call 24 hours a day. The clinic is a referral centre for primary care and ENT specialists in the Uppsala-Örebro region. Patients with sleep apnoea and snoring problems, children with polyps behind the nose and tonsils and other diagnoses not covered by the other sections are examined in outpatient care. The day surgery unit has 13 beds and treats around 2,500 patients a year who have had surgery with us or with the plastic surgeon. Day surgery activities include pre- and post-operative care. Patients go home the same day as their surgery.

In the rhinology part of the section, we examine patients with nasal problems to determine the cause in order to provide adequate therapy. Treatment includes both medical and surgical therapy. We operate on patients with skeletal malformations of the nose and those with difficult-to-treat sinus infections, tumours, nasal bleeding and nasal polyps. The surgical technique is mainly based on endoscopic techniques, whereby we operate with narrow instruments through the nasal openings under careful control on a monitor. Our team has many years of clinical and scientific experience. We are the referral body for the region's ENT specialists, as well as the county's private ENT specialists and primary care physicians.

Tumour section

All categories of ear, nose and throat diseases are treated except thyroid, which is treated in the endocrine surgery unit.

Treatment of head and neck cancer is primarily carried out in cooperation with oncology, pathology, plastic, oral and neurosurgery. Treatments can include both surgery and radiation therapy and are part of a standardised care pathway. The aim is for patients to be assessed and receive a treatment proposal at a medical conference (MDK) within 23 days of suspicion of malignant disease in the head and neck region and referral to an ENT specialist. Once treatment has been decided, the aim is to allow a maximum of 12 days before surgery and 20 days before radiation therapy.

Planning for the treatment of larger tumours takes place every Thursday during a multidisciplinary round, in consultation with the patient and the specialists needed in each case.