Medical Milestones in Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery

1970 - Walter Maloney, MD, develops the Maloney Esophageal Dilator, most widely utilized surgical instrument of its kind today.

1989 - Anthony Maniglia, MD, Laura Cozzi, MD and colleague establish technique for safe outpatient tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy using bismuth, after establishing with Oscar Ratnoff in 1988 NIH-funded research paper that Bismuth activates Hageman Factor.

Maniglia AJ, Kushner H, Cozzi L. Adenotonsillectomy. A Safe outpatient procedure. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 1989 Jan:115(1):92-4.

1990 - Anthony Maniglia, MD, is awarded the first of 4 patents establishing the basis for implantable hearing aid technology.

1993 - Cliff Megerian, MD, James Arnold, MD, and Nancy Oleinik, PhD, show proof of principle of photodynamic therapy for the management of head and neck cancer using new drug PC4 developed at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

1995 - Cliff Megerian, MD and colleagues prove origin of endolymphatic sac tumors in Von Hippel-Lindau disease and in 2002 describes first technique to remove tumor and preserve hearing in affected patients.

Maniglia AJ, Sprecher RC, Megerian CA, Lanzieri C. Inferior mastoidectomy-hypotympanic approach for surgical removal of glomus jugulare tumors: an anatomical and radiologic study emphasizing distances between critical structures. Laryngoscope. 1992 Apr:102(4):407-14.
Megerian CA, McKenna MJ, Nuss RC, Maniglia AJ, Ojemann RG, Pilch BZ, Nadol JB Jr.Endolymphatic sac tumors: histopathologic confirmation, clinical characterization, and implication in von Hippel-Lindau disease. Laryngoscope. 1995 Aug;105(8 Pt 1):801-8.
Megerian CA, Haynes DS, Poe DS, Choo DI, Keriakas TJ, Glasscock ME 3rd. Hearing preservation surgery for small endolymphatic sac tumors in patients with von Hippel-Lindau syndrome.Otol Neurotol. 2002 May;23(3):378-87.

2000 - Anthony Maniglia, MD and Wen Ko, PhD patent technology for the totally implantable cochlear implant.

2001 - Kumar Alagramam, PhD and collagues identify protocadherin gene PCDH15 as gene responsible for deafness in human condition involving deafness and blindness known as Usher’s syndrome 1F.

Alagramam KN, Yuan H, Kuehn MH, Murcia CL, Wayne S, Srisailpathy CR, Lowry RB, Knaus R, Van Laer L, Bernier FP, Schwartz S, Lee C, Morton CC, Mullins RF, Ramesh A, Van Camp G, Hageman GS, Woychik RP, Smith RJ. Mutations in the novel protocadherin PCDH15 cause Usher syndrome type 1F.Hum Mol Genet. 2001 Aug 1;10(16):1709-18.

2005 - Cliff Megerian, MD and colleagues develops minimally invasive surgical/radiosurgical management approach invented for glomus jugular tumors; follows 1992 paper co-authored with Anthony Maniglia, MD and Robert Sprecher, MD outlining anatomical proof of principle for surgical technique.

Willen SN, Einstein DB, Maciunas RJ, Megerian CA.Treatment of glomus jugulare tumors in patients with advanced age: planned limited surgical resection followed by staged gamma knife radiosurgery: a preliminary report.Otol Neurotol. 2005 Nov;26(6):1229-34.

2006 - Cliff Megerian, MD and colleagues develops tissue engineered eardrum repair technique that is licensed by industry and subject of FDA trials as of 2016.

Weber DE, Semaan MT, Wasman JK, Beane R, Bonassar LJ, Megerian CA.Tissue-engineered calcium alginate patches in the repair of chronic chinchilla tympanic membrane perforations.Laryngoscope. 2006 May;116 (5):700-4.

2008 – Dr. Meg Allagram and colleagues characterize and develop a mouse model of endolymphatic hydrops that mirrors that seen in Meniere's Disease.  

Megerian CA, Semaan MT, Aftab S, Kisley LB, Zheng QY, Pawlowski KS, Wright CG, Alagramam KN.Hear Res. A mouse model with postnatal endolymphatic hydrops and hearing loss. Hear Res.2008 Mar;237(1-2):90-105. doi: 10.1016/j.heares.2008.01.002. Epub 2008 Jan 15.

2009 – Drs. Megerian and colleagues describe a method of repair for superior semicic cal vai tran approach that allows for outpatient surgery without craniotomy.

Deschenes GR, Hsu DP, Megerian CA. Outpatient repair of superior semicircular canal dehiscence via the transmastoid approach. Laryngoscope. 2009 Sep;119(9):1765-9. doi: 10.1002/lary.20543.

2009 - Mark Weidenbecher,MD, James Dennis, PhD, and colleagues develop tissue engineered tracheal replacement.

Weidenbecher M, Tucker HM, Gilpin DA, Dennis JE.Tissue-engineered trachea for airway reconstruction.Laryngoscope. 2009 Nov;119(11):2118-23. doi: 10.1002/lary.20700.

2010 - Richard Lee, MD, Mark Vecchiotti, MD, Kumar Alagramam, PhD, James Arnold, MD and colleagues demonstrate successful ablation of respiratory papilloma in animal model using photodynamic therapy and novel drug PC4 developed at CWRU. FDA trial in preparation.

Lee RG, Vecchiotti MA, Heaphy J, Panneerselvam A, Schluchter MD, Oleinick NL, Lavertu P, Alagramam KN, Arnold JE, Sprecher RC.Photodynamic therapy of cottontail rabbit papillomavirus-induced papillomas in a severe combined immunodeficient mouse xenograft system.Laryngoscope. 2010 Mar;120(3):618-24. doi: 10.1002/lary.20709.

2011 – Dr. Maroon Semaan, Cliff Megerian, and colleagues develops minimally invasive approaches for management of cerebrospinal fluid leaks of the temporal bone and for treating superior semicircular canal dehiscence syndrome.

Semaan MT, Gilpin DA, Hsu DP, Wasman JK, Megerian CA.Transmastoid extradural-intracranial approach for repair of transtemporal meningoencephalocele: a review of 31 consecutive cases.Laryngoscope. 2011 Aug;121(8):1765-72. doi: 10.1002/lary.21887. Epub 2011 Jun 6.

2014 - Chad Zender, MD, partners with Ugandan Health Authorities and UH established liaison hospital for head and neck cancer focusing on HPV related tumors in partnership with Uganda Cancer Institute in Kampala, Uganda. – link to Making Headway, Innovations in Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, Winter 2016 at UHDoctor.org.

2014 - Maroun Semaan, MD, Cliff Megerian, MD, Nicholas Bambakidis, MD, and Gail Murray PhD perform Ohio’s first auditory brain stem implant in a child born with absent hearing nerves. – link to Making Headway, Innovations in Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, Winter 2016 at UHDoctor.org

2015 - Diana Ponsky, MD, Jonathan Baskin, MD, and Kingman Strohl, MD perform Ohio’s first hypoglossal nerve stimulator surgery for intractable obstructive sleep apnea. A New Treatment Option for Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Innovations in Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, Winter 2015

2016 - Cochlear implant program celebrates 1000th cochlear implant.