ENT and Neuro

[bluegold]

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Anybody else absolutely torn between these two fields? I love neuroscience, but also the surgical scope and practice of Oto.

How much overlap is there in training between these two fields, are there opportunities for neuro research as an ENT?

Any thoughts at all would be really helpful...

 

[neurologist]

Anybody else absolutely torn between these two fields? I love neuroscience, but also the surgical scope and practice of Oto.

How much overlap is there in training between these two fields, are there opportunities for neuro research as an ENT?

Any thoughts at all would be really helpful...

These are WAY different fields. Kinda like being "torn between" pathology and psychiatry. ENT docs are first and foremost SURGEONS. They operate on people. When an ENT doc sees a patient, they are thinking "is there a surgical fix here?' It is a whole different mindset.
Neurologists are NOT surgeons. They don't operate on anyone.
There is some limited overlap and room for complementary evaluation and/or treatment in such issues as meniere's disease, vertigo, and headache, but generally, IMHO, an ENT doc should only be involved in these if there is trauma or some other surgical indication, or in cases of chronic sinus/ear infection. I see many more referrals flowing from ENT to neurology (i.e., "your 'sinus headaches' are really migraines -- go see a neurologist" or "your vertigo is central, not peripheral -- go see a neurologist) than from neuro to ENT.

 

[neurologist]

Anybody else absolutely torn between these two fields? I love neuroscience, but also the surgical scope and practice of Oto.

How much overlap is there in training between these two fields, are there opportunities for neuro research as an ENT?

Any thoughts at all would be really helpful...

Sorry, I forgot to add this: there IS a small subfield of neurology called "neuro-otology" (the "guru" of this is a neurologist named Robert Baloh). It's a very small, supersubspecialized field, but if you're really interested you should explore this more. My personal opinion of this field is that, similar to neuro-ophthalmology, they don't accomplish a whole lot in terms of clinical outcome, but that's just my biased view.