Tinnitus in Temporomandibular Joint Disorders: Is it a Specific Somatosensory Tinnitus Subtype?

The most significant otologic symptoms, consisting of ear pain, tinnitus, dizziness, hearing loss and auricolar "fullness", generally arise within the auditory system, often are associated with extra auricolar disorders, particularly disorder of the temporo-mandibular joint. In our study we examined a sample of 200 consecutive patients who had experienced severe disabling symptom. The patiens came to maxillofacial specialist assessment for temporomandibular disorder.

Multiple coronary artery-left ventricular fistulas causing sudden death in a young woman.

Multiple coronary artery fistulae arising from right and left coronary arteries were found at autopsy in a 22-year-old woman, dying suddenly while playing football. This is the fifth pathologic description of this finding with biventricular involvement. We found microscopic evidence of postischemic scars and foci of myocardial calcifications in the left ventricular wall.

Facial nerve schwannoma presenting as a mass in the middle cranial fossa: typical neuroradiological patterns for a preoperative diagnosis.

Facial nerve schwannoma is a rare primary neurogenic tumour that may originate anywhere along the VII(th) nerve course. The clinical presentation is highly dependent on the location of the lesion along the nerve course and this makes the pre-operative diagnosis difficult without radiologic examination. The most common presentation is facial palsy and even though tumours are responsible for only 5% of facial palsies, if a patient does not recover within six months a complete work-up for neoplasm is recommended.

Wedge turbinectomy: a new combined photocoagulative Nd:YAG laser technique.

Objectives: To demonstrate that Nd:YAG laser photocoagulation using a combination of interstitial and contact approaches in the surgical treatment of inferior turbinate hypertrophy yields improved results in terms of postoperative nasal patency, complications, and relapse.

Study Design: A group of 121 patients with symptoms of nasal obstruction due to hypertrophied inferior turbinates were treated between January 1994 and December 1997 at the Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Unit of the Main Military Hospital of Rome using the wedge turbinectomy, a new endonasal laser technique.

Methods: This is a combined photocoagulative procedure performed under local anesthesia.