“Dr. Kortbus, Lauren Dierlam, Maureen Lynch-Rinaldi and staff are happy to report that Hudson ENT will be joining the Albany Med Health System, which includes Albany Medical Center & Columbia Memorial Health. Hudson ENT will continue to see patients at our Red Hook offices. We are NOT moving our clinical site! As we prepare for the transition and outfit our current space, we will have availability for follow up appointments in the CMH Medical Office Building next to the hospital after June 14. Hudson ENT will resume seeing patients in our Red Hook offices effective early July. Dr. Kortbus ..read more

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) affects 22 million Americans. OSA occurs when soft tissues in the airway collapse during sleep and block the flow of oxygen to the brain. The brain senses a lack of oxygen and wakes the body up just long enough to take a breath, then the body falls back asleep. This cycle repeats throughout the night and causes poor, disruptive sleep. When left untreated, OSA can cause vehicle and workplace accidents, worsening mood and memory, stroke, heart attack, and even death. Treatment Options: There are many different sleep apnea treatment options available. Continuous Pos ..read more

The pandemic has caused many changes in people’s lives. One of them is that we have more people living in the Hudson Valley who are from elsewhere…. especially downstate New York. In order to make every effort to help everyone, Hudson ENT is going to “pivot” in its approach to insurance management. To best serve you and your loved ones, we are going to see you then ask questions later. What does this mean? We have contracts with most major HUDSON VALLEY insurance plans, but with so many new folks having downstate plans, we are going to make the appointment, see you, then bill the insurance yo ..read more

Cough is a common symptom, and what causes it can be hard to get. Most of the time, coughs come and go. Often, cough is a very good “physiological” response to something disturbing the throat – specifically something about to pass the “voice box” on the way into the lungs. In other words, it has a protective, healthy effect. Some people cough for effect – to get someone’s attention. This blog is about involuntary coughing. People describe dry cough, wet cough, annoying coughs, spasms and more. The majority of cough that lasts less than three weeks are due to [upper OR lower] respiratory infec ..read more

Hearing is one of the most important senses we have. Although many who have all of their senses would argue that having a vision loss would be worse, those who have suffered with both loss of vision and loss of hearing usually would prefer to have their hearing restored – because then one can communicate with others. We thrive on communication. Based on standard hearing evaluations, one in eight Americans have hearing loss. Since many (but not all!) lose some hearing with age, the rate of disabling hearing loss increases as we get older. Hudson ENT otolaryngologists are involved with hearing ..read more

Since March, most people have stayed home. We have been “on pause” for fear of the virus, for other concerns like employment, or fear of burdening the health care system. Many of you who have come to our office in the past might have seen a number of people in the waiting room -this has all changed. We are spreading out office times and spaces for your safety. At hudsonENT, every active patient is screened and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. Our rooms are sprayed and wiped between every patient and time is given to the room for air exchange. We have invested in negative pressu ..read more

We hope this email finds you healthy. Many are having very difficult times at home, unable to do things they would like to, and more importantly, having to care for sick family and relatives. And many are learning how to homeschool, or study at home. https://www.hudsonent.com/post/the-coronavirus-pandemic is challenging us all, one way or the other. Usually, we send out an email once a month, but we know you will agree that this is not a usual time. We wanted you to know that our telemedicine / telehealth experience this week has been very positive, both from the patient’s perspective and our ..read more

The current coronavirus pandemic is certainly the main topic of current events. It has been some time since one story so dominated the international news, and affected each of us. Some are affected in small ways, such as having to manage family members who can not go to work or school and some are affected in the ultimate way, by being with or knowing those who are ill with COVID (COrona VIrus Disease)-19. Usually, we like to blog about topics of special interest to otolaryngology. COVID is a disease of the lower respiratory tract, meaning the lungs. Other than a possible early nasal symptom ..read more

Most of the time, patients who present to the office with throat problems can be managed with several straight-forward remedies. And we can evaluate nearly all of you without pain or discomfort right here in the office. However, there are times when we have to break bad news – that there is a suspicion of throat cancer. Until around the turn of this century, most throat cancer was due to behaviors like using tobacco and / or alcohol. This has changed, with many throat cancer “lesions” coming from a virus known as the human papilloma virus (HPV). Like the “coronavirus”, there are many types bu ..read more

Nasal polyps are soft, painless, benign growths in the nose that are sometimes seen by primary care providers, but mainly need to be confirmed and managed by an otolaryngologist. This blog is about treatment for these. Observation and follow-up are chosen by many patients who have these, since most treatments listed below are still “treatments”. Meaning, some people who have had therapy for polyps and under close care choose to take holidays from medicine. Also, as you will read below, only two of the options below are not based on corticosteroid use. The mainstay and “FDA-approved” medicine ..read more