Northern Virginia Doctors Medical Center

Otolaryngology or ENT (ear, nose and throat) is the branch of medicine that specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of ear, nose, throat, and head and neck disorders. The full name of the specialty is otolaryngology-head and neck surgery. Practitioners are called otolaryngologists-head and neck surgeons, or sometimes otorhinolaryngologists (ORL). The term comes from the Greek ωτολαρυγγολογία (oto = genitive for ear, laryngo = genitive for larynx/throat, logy = study), and it literally means the study of ear and neck. The full term ωτορινολαρυγγολογία (otorhinolaryngology), also includes rhino, which is the genitive of nose. Otolaryngology is one of the most competitive specialties to enter for physicians.