Dr. Balqees Alghanem’s board success adds a new milestone to a medical career that includes published research on nasal surgery, head and neck diagnosis and the delivery of surgical care.
Dr. Balqees Alghanem has passed the Kuwaiti boards in otolaryngology and head and neck surgery, with Women Surgeons of Kuwait announcing and celebrating her achievement.
The organisation’s announcement congratulated Alghanem on completing the examinations in the specialty commonly known as ear, nose and throat medicine, or ENT. The field combines medical treatment and surgery across conditions affecting hearing, breathing, speech and structures of the head and neck.
Her achievement follows contributions to clinical research published before the board announcement. Those papers offer a closer look at the work behind the qualification, from examining how surgeons manage recovery after nasal operations to documenting the diagnosis of an unusual neck tumour.
Together, they show a professional record encompassing both the practical decisions involved in everyday surgery and the investigation of less common conditions.
Research into recovery after nasal surgery
Alghanem was the first-listed author of a 2024 study examining nasal packing after septoplasty, published in the medical journal Cureus with Nawaf Almotairi and Ahmad Alrasheedi. The paper listed her affiliation as the Kuwait Institute for Medical Specializations.
Septoplasty corrects a displaced nasal septum, the partition between the nostrils. The study examined surgeons’ views on using non-absorbable packing after the procedure, an approach intended to help manage bleeding and other postoperative concerns.
Fifty ENT and head and neck surgeons in Kuwait completed the survey. Of those respondents, 92% associated non-absorbable nasal packs with pain and discomfort, while 66% agreed that particular suturing techniques could safely replace routine packing.
These figures described clinicians’ opinions rather than outcomes measured in a patient trial. The authors found differing approaches to postoperative care and called for further research to establish evidence-based guidance.
For Alghanem’s professional profile, the paper provides a specific example of research into a decision patients experience directly during recovery: how clinicians balance postoperative protection with comfort after an operation.
Documenting a challenging neck diagnosis
A second Cureus paper published in August 2024 listed Alghanem among the authors of a case report on a well-differentiated liposarcoma in the back of the neck. Her affiliations in that publication included the Kuwait Institute for Medical Specializations and Farwaniya Hospital.
The report described a large fatty mass that initially appeared on imaging to be a lipoma. Examination of the removed tissue subsequently established that it was a well-differentiated liposarcoma.
The authors documented the diagnostic process and the removal of the mass while preserving surrounding muscular, nerve and vascular structures. The case illustrated why imaging, surgical assessment and laboratory examination of tissue can each contribute different information to a final diagnosis.
A case report records an individual clinical experience rather than establishing how frequently a condition occurs or proving that one treatment is best. Its value here is in documenting a diagnostic challenge and making that experience available to other clinicians.
The publication also places Alghanem’s research beyond nasal surgery, within the wider anatomical and diagnostic scope of head and neck medicine.
Earlier work on access to surgery
Her published work also includes a 2021 study on the resumption of elective surgery, co-authored with Muneera Ben Nakhi and Asmaa Al Rashed. That paper listed her affiliation with the ENT department at Zain Center in Kuwait’s Al-Sabah Medical Area.
The research drew on a survey conducted during 2020, examining how respondents approached the return of planned operations during the pandemic. It considered hospital protocols, patient prioritisation, testing and the use of remote consultations.
Its findings belong to that specific period, rather than describing surgical services today. Within Alghanem’s publication record, however, it shows an interest in how care is organised alongside the technical questions involved in individual procedures.
The paper also acknowledged the Women Surgeons of Kuwait Research Network and the Women Surgeons of the Gulf group for helping distribute the survey. That provides an earlier documented connection between her research and the professional networks associated with women in surgery, ahead of the latest public recognition of her board success.
A specialty spanning everyday care and complex surgery
The breadth of those subjects reflects the specialty itself. The American College of Surgeons describes otolaryngology and head and neck surgery as encompassing both medical and surgical care, with areas including ear disorders, nasal and sinus disease, paediatric ENT and head and neck oncology.
That range connects familiar symptoms with highly specialised diagnostic and operative work. It also helps explain why a physician’s record in the field can include research on a common nasal procedure alongside a report about an unusual tumour.
Alghanem’s board result is the latest announced milestone in that professional record. The studies preceding it document her participation in research addressing postoperative care, diagnostic assessment and access to planned surgery.
Women Surgeons of Kuwait’s announcement brings those earlier contributions into a new context: a physician whose published work already includes several aspects of surgical care has now passed the Kuwaiti boards in her specialty.
