A unilateral nasal polyp is a tumor until proven otherwise.
A chronic or recurrently draining ear is a cholesteatoma until proven otherwise.
Never sedate a patient with a questionable airway.
Unilateral epistaxis with odor or purulence in a child is a nasal foreign body until proven otherwise.
Unilateral serous otitis in an adult is a nasopharyngeal tumor until proven otherwise.
All that wheezes is not asthma and all that palsies is not Bell’s.
Persistent unilateral tinnitus is an acoustic neuroma until proven otherwise.
Any airway is a good one when you don’t have one.
Ear pain out of proportion to physical findings may well be TMJ.
Unilateral ear pain in a smoker is a pharyngeal tumor until proven otherwise.
Persistent hoarseness in a smoker is a laryngeal tumor until proven otherwise.
A nose bleed will persist until the hypertension is controlled and the coagulopathy is corrected.
If the patient may need an urgent operation he must be NPO.