Cartilage Ossiculoplasty from Stapes to Tympanic Membrane in One-Stage Intact Canal Wall Tympanoplasty for Cholesteatoma.

Objective: To report hearing results of cartilage interposition ossiculoplasty in one-stage intact canal wall (ICW) tympanoplasty for cholesteatoma with intact stapes.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective study of pre and postoperative hearing status was conducted at a tertiary referral otologic center in a series of 61 patients having undergone one-stage ICW tympanoplasty for cholesteatoma with intact stapes and cartilage ossiculoplasty during the same procedure.

Results: In the preoperative period, the mean air conduction thresholds (AC), air-bone gap (ABG), and speech reception thresholds (SRT) were 35.

Descending necrotizing mediastinitis: contemporary trends in etiology, diagnosis, management, and outcome.

Objective: To evaluate contemporary trends in etiology, diagnosis, management, and outcome of descending necrotizing mediastinitis (DNM) and to draw the clinician's attention on this probably underappreciated disease.

Summary Of Background Data: An uncommon but one of the most serious forms of mediastinitis is DNM which is caused by downward spread of deep neck infections and arises as a major complication of "banal" odontogenic, pharyngeal, or cervicofacial foci. As most studies are based on small patient populations, current data on risk factors, etiology, and outcome vary significantly.

Computed tomography-based workup of conductive hearing loss with normal middle ear: don't forget superior semicircular canal dehiscence.

Patients with superior semicircular canal dehiscence (SSCD) may have conductive hearing loss (CHL) with normal middle ear (ME). A patient with CHL and normal tympanic membrane at otoscopy underwent tympanotomy for presumed otosclerosis but had negative intraoperative findings. A high-resolution computed tomography (CT) scan of the temporal bone performed a few years later showed the absence of middle-ear disorder (especially the absence of imaging signs of otosclerosis) and revealed a bony dehiscence of the superior semicircular canal.

Solitary fibrous tumors in the head and neck: new insights and implications for diagnosis and treatment.

Objectives: The solitary fibrous tumor (SFT) is a potentially malignant spindle cell neoplasm of mesenchymal origin that was originally described as a thoracic lesion originating from pleural tissue. Recently, numerous extrapleural sites of origin have been described, frequently affecting the head and neck region. The purpose of this article is to focus on a formerly underestimated neoplasm and to highlight its appearance in the head and neck region.

Endolymphatic sac tumours: surgical management.

Background: Endolymphatic sac tumours (ELSTs) have been known as an individual tumour entity only since 1984. ELSTs may occur either solitarily and sporadically or as a hereditary manifestation associated with von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease. The latter association was first observed in 1992 and confirmed by molecular genetic analysis of the VHL gene.

Laryngotracheal reconstruction using prefabricated and preconditioned composite radial forearm free flaps. A report of two cases.

Objective: Total or subtotal laryngectomy performed as surgical treatment of locally advanced laryngeal tumors requires a permanent laryngostomy or tracheostomy, and are both associated with severe and lifelong disability. The hitherto published reconstructive methods for the rehabilitation of patients after subtotal anterior laryngotracheal resection of extended laryngotracheal malignancies have not been thoroughly convincing.

Methods: We present a successful method of extended laryngotracheal reconstruction that combines modern surgical and biomedical techniques.

Delayed ventricular fibrillation following blunt chest trauma in a 4-year-old child.

A 4-year-old boy who was involved in a motor vehicle accident as a pedestrian and suffered blunt chest trauma was admitted to the emergency room. Unpredictable delayed ventricular fibrillation was diagnosed and treated successfully 2 h later. This case cannot be classified as commotio cordis as the ventricular fibrillation (VF) developed so long after the sustained chest injury.

Bee stings of children: when to perform endotracheal intubation?

Hymenoptera stings account for more deaths in United States that any other envenomation. Oropharyngeal stings, although rare, may produce life-threatening airway obstruction by way of localized swelling. We present 4 cases of bee stings in children that necessitated tracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation.

Navigation as a quality management tool in cochlear implant surgery.

This cadaver study assessed the value of navigation in cochlear implant surgery. Cochlear implantation was simulated on a cadaver using a Stryker-Leibinger navigation system and a Nucleus 24 Contour implant. A conventional surgical strategy consisting of mastoidectomy, posterior tympanotomy, and cochleostomy was performed.

Cochlear implantation in children with otitis media: second stage of a long-term prospective study.

Objective: To present the findings of the second stage of an ongoing prospective study of the outcome of cochlear implantation in otitis media (OM)-prone and non-OM-prone children who were treated according to a structured protocol designed to control OM prior to implantation.

Patients And Methods: Of 60 children referred for cochlear implantation during the study period, 34 were classified as OM-prone (Group A) and 26 as non-OM-prone (group B). Group A patients were managed according to a structured protocol aimed at pre-implantation control of OM.

Postdural puncture headache: an imaging-guided management protocol.

We propose an imaging-based algorithm for the management of headache caused by the inadvertent puncture of dura that occurs sporadically during epidural analgesia. Its implementation can identify those postdural puncture headache cases that cannot benefit from epidural blood patches, and their unnecessary application can consequently be avoided.