neurosurgery versus otolaryngology

[triquetras]

I have always been interested in neurosurgery, but lately I have had a lot of exposure to ENT and my interest is piqued. So, what's the pros/cons of NS and ENT?

Any input would be great. I'm sure a lot of people had this dilemma....thanks

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[adocron]

I had the same issue, trying to decide between neurosurg and ENT. There were a few things that made the decision for me.
1. I found ENT cases more interesting overall. There are a wide variety of surgical areas within ENT: facial plastics, sinus, otology, laryngology, head and neck cancer, and this means there are lots of different types of procedures.
2. Patients tend to be healthier in ENT. The head and neck cancer patients are frequently very sick, but most other surgeries are on an elective basis. This means you aren't stuck with as many ICU patients in the hospital for weeks. On many services patients go home the next day.
3. Lifestyle is better in ENT, both during residency and after. There may be exceptions to this, but overall most of the people I've met in ENT are family-oriented and do not want their life ruled by their career, unless they've deliberately chosen to do so.
4. I believe overall the people are nicer in ENT. There are surely exceptions to this and there are some great neurosurgeons, but the general attitude is friendly and cooperative...many programs I interviewed at stressed the working environment and having residents who get along well over other aspects like grades and scores. I think this says something about the values of most people in the field.
5. Most people going in to private neurosurgery practice end up doing a LOT of spine work. I did not find this appealing, and several other students I've talked to felt the same way and appreciated ENT more because of this. From what I've heard, private neurosurgeons do prodominantly spine cases with the occasional craniotomy, which wasn't what I was looking for.
6. Being specifically interested in neurosurgery as well as ENT, I was drawn to the neurotology cases. ENTs who specialize in Otology do a lot of lateral skull base stuff, such as resecting acoustic neuromas, on top of the chronic ear disease and other ear cases. Look into otology and try to see some of these cases to see if they interest that neurosurgery-liking part of you.
Hope that helps.

 

[bugmenot]

with ent one can always do neurosurgery type cases with skull base work, acoustics; also with current improvement in endoscopic techniques pituitary work is also available

 

[Blake]

Interesting topic. Yesterday, I had a talk with a MS4 who matched in ENT. Since I'm very interested in surgery, I asked her why she chose ENT over other fields such as ophto and neurosurgery. Basically, she had the same arguments as adocron. It kind of made interested in knowing more about the field...

 

[elduderino]

Hey guys first time poster I have read this thread before and I recently came across an article about endoscopic pituitary work and I understand that both neurosurgeons and head and neck guys are involved, but I was wondering how much of a role do and head and neck surgeons play in this technique and what future role will they have in performing this surgery?
Thanks

 

[TheThroat]

Hey guys first time poster I have read this thread before and I recently came across an article about endoscopic pituitary work and I understand that both neurosurgeons and head and neck guys are involved, but I was wondering how much of a role do and head and neck surgeons play in this technique and what future role will they have in performing this surgery?
Thanks

At my institution, we get the exposure, and they take out the tumor. Pretty straightforward, really.

 

[blackpager]

any more recent thoughts from people on ENT vs neurosurgery, pros and cons, differences and similarities?
thanks

 

[womp]

Isn't there a lot of daily same-old with ENT too? tubes and tonsils, tubes and tonsils...? I guess that can be said about every surgical specialty. Which surgical field has the most daily variety? Ortho?