March 31, 2011 Amy L. Rutt, DO, Mary J. Hawkshaw, BSN, RN, CORLN, and Robert T. Sataloff, MD, DMA, FACS
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Abstract
Intratympanic (IT) steroids are often used to treat inner ear disorders such as sudden idiopathic sensorineural hearing loss, autoimmune inner ear disease, and Ménière disease. Administration of corticosteroids via IT injection, via application with a pledget to the round window, or via catheter has been used for this purpose. The frequency of adverse events related to the IT injection of steroids is low, with pain, short-lasting vertigo, otitis media, and tympanic perforations being the most common complications. However, the safety of IT steroid therapy has not yet been established in a randomized clinical trial. In this article, we discuss a group of 11 patients with sensorineural hearing loss who underwent myringotomy and tube placement for home-based dexamethasone instillation and subsequently developed the complication of tympanic membrane perforation. It appears that there is a significantly increased incidence of tympanic membrane perforations in this population.
January 1, 2011 Jeffrey D. Suh, MD, Ashley E. Balaker, MD, Brian D. Suh, MD, and Keith E. Blackwell, MD
September 30, 2010 Caglar Calli, MD, Ercan Pinar, MD, Semih Oncel, MD, Bekir Tatar, MD, and Mehmet Ali Tuncbilek, MD
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Abstract
Posterior tympanotomy is commonly performed through the facial recess to facilitate cochlear implantation. A rare but serious complication of this procedure is paralysis of the facial nerve and/or the chorda tympani. These complications generally occur because of a limited understanding of the anatomy of the facial recess. To help further define this area, we used computer-aided design software to measure (1) the angle between the facial nerve and the chorda tympani nerve and (2) the distance between the takeoff point of the chorda tympani and the posteriormost prominent point of the short process of the incus in 30 cadaveric adult temporal bones. The mean angle was 23.58° (±6.84), and the mean distance was 7.78 mm (±2.68). Our most important finding was that there was a correlation between the two measurements in that the distance tended to be greater when the angle was less than the mean and vice versa. This trend approached but did not quite reach statistical significance (r = -0.248, p = 0.059).
September 30, 2010 Theodore A. Schuman, MD and Robert F. Labadie, MD, PhD
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Abstract
We conducted a retrospective chart review to determine if performing simultaneous nasal surgery and tympanoplasty jeopardizes tympanic membrane graft survival and the surgical outcome. Our study population consisted of 14 consecutively presenting adults with nasal septal deviation and otologic pathology who had undergone simultaneous nasal and otologic procedures at an academic tertiary care medical center. Surgical procedures included septoplasty and bilateral inferior turbinate submucous reduction with concurrent primary or revision tympanoplasty with or without mastoidectomy and ossicular chain reconstruction. Follow-up ranged from 1.8 to 29.8 months (mean: 12.8 ± 10.8). The primary outcomes measures were tympanic membrane graft survival and surgical success; the latter was defined as an absence of middle ear effusion and a lack of need for pressure-equalization tube placement in patients with intact grafts. We found that 13 of the 14 tympanic membrane grafts (92.9%) survived at the most recent follow-up and that 11 patients (78.6%) achieved an aerated middle ear without the need for a pressure-equalization tube. These rates compare favorably with those quoted in the literature for tympanoplasty performed without concomitant nasal surgery. We conclude that septoplasty can be safely and effectively performed at the same time as tympanoplasty with or without mastoidectomy with no increase in the risk of surgical failure.
July 31, 2010 Min-Tsan Shu, MD, Hung-Ching Lin, MD, Cheng-Chien Yang, MD, and Yu-Chun Chen, MD
March 1, 2010 Arun K. Gadre, MD, FACS, DORL
August 31, 2009 N. Wendell Todd, MD, MPH
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Abstract
The angles formed by the tympanic membrane and the external ear canal anteriorly, anteroinferiorly, and inferiorly can pose surgical challenges, and the spaces they form can harbor iatrogenic cholesteatoma. The range of values previously reported for these angles-27° to 60°-seems not to have been determined in a clinically applicable manner. To clinically describe the tympanum-canal angles, assess bilateral symmetry, assess the angles relative to mastoid pneumatization, and assess the relationship of the angles to manubrium orientation in the skull, the author conducted a postmortem anatomic study of 41 bequeathed adult crania without clinical otitis media. As viewed through the external ear canal, the tympanum-canal angles were measured in 10° increments anteriorly, anteroinferiorly, and inferiorly relative to the line of the manubrium. Mastoid sizes were determined radiographically. In the right ear, the tympanum-canal angles ranged from 40° to 60° anteriorly (median: 55°), from 50° to 70° anteroinferiorly (median: 60°), and from 70° to 80° inferiorly (median: 75°). Bilateral symmetry was found (each rs ≥ 0.69, p < 0.001). Although the angles did not correlate with either mastoid pneumatization or manubrium orientation relative to the Frankfort plane, nonvisualization of the annulus anteriorly was significantly more common in specimens with well-pneumatized mastoids (p < 0.05). The author concludes that the tympanum-canal angles anteriorly, anteroinferiorly, and inferiorly have comparatively narrow ranges, exhibit bilateral symmetry, and are unrelated to both mastoid size and manubrium orientation in the skull.
May 31, 2009 Yoav P. Talmi, MD, FACS, Michael Wolf, MD, Lela Migirov, MD, and Jona Kronenberg, MD
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Abstract
Three uncommon cases of ear trauma caused by a yucca plant leaf spine are presented. One patient presented with tympanic perforation and the second with mixed hearing loss after spontaneous closure. The third patient probably had a perilymphatic fistula with subsequent labyrinthitis and hearing loss. Although the yucca is a ubiquitous plant, to the best of our knowledge, such incidents have not been previously reported.
February 1, 2009 Michael M. Paparella, MD
October 31, 2008 Amy L. Rutt, DO and Robert T. Sataloff, MD, DMA
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Abstract
Aspergillus niger, an opportunistic filamentous fungus, was identified as the cause of chronic unilateral otomycosis in a 55-year old, immunocompromised man who had been unresponsive to a variety of treatment regimens. The patient presented with intermittent otalgia and otorrhea and with a perforation of his left tympanic membrane. A niger was identified in a culture specimen obtained from the patient's left ear canal. In immunocompromised patients, it is important that the treatment of otomycosis be prompt and vigorous, to minimize the likelihood of hearing loss and invasive temporal bone infection.
September 25, 2008 Steven F. Isenberg, MD
September 25, 2008 Titus S. Ibekwe, FWACS, Onyekwere G.B. Nwaorgu, FWACS, Aderemi A. Adeosun, FWACS, Daniel D. Kokong, MBBS, Hakeem O. Lawal, MBBS, Patrick O. Okundia, MBBS, and Paul A. Onakoya, FWACS (Ib)
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Abstract
We conducted a study to determine how accurate various ENT specialists were in estimating the size of 100 tympanic membrane (TM) perforations with standard otoscopy. The specialists included, in descending order of rank, 2 Consultant Surgeons, 2 Senior Registrars, and 2 Registrars, all of whom had confirmed good vision. We compared their estimates, which were made independently and expressed as a percentage of the total area of the TM, with exact measurements calculated with computer-based video-otoscopy. We found that the video-otoscopic calculations were far superior to the estimates of the specialists, even the most experienced Consultants (p < 0.01). We recommend that video-otoscopy be used whenever possible.
