Reliability and Validity of a Korean Version of the Tinnitus Primary Function Questionnaire.

Purpose The aim of this study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of a Korean version of the Tinnitus Primary Function Questionnaire (K-TPFQ). Method A total of 79 subjects participated in the study. All participants completed the K-TPFQ, and the Korean versions of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index ( Buysse, Reynolds, Monk, Berman, & Kupfer, 1989 ; Sohn, Kim, Lee, & Cho, 2012 ), the Beck Depression Inventory ( Beck, Ward, Mendelson, Mock, & Erbaugh, 1961 ; Jo, Park, Jo, Ryu, & Han, 2007 ), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory questionnaire ( Cho & Choi, 1989 ; Spielberger & Gorsuch, 1983 ), and the Tinnitus Handicap Questionnaire ( Kuk, Tyler, Russell, & Jordan, 1990 ).

Clinical effect of intratympanic dexamethasone injection in acute unilateral tinnitus: A prospective, placebo-controlled, multicenter study.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of intratympanic dexamethasone injection (ITDI) in acute tinnitus of presumed cochlear origin.

Study Design: A prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blinded, multicenter study.

Methods: Between August 2013 and December 2015, 54 patients with unilateral tinnitus were enrolled at four different centers.

Surgical and Audiologic Comparison Between Sophono and Bone-Anchored Hearing Aids Implantation.

Objectives: Bone-anchored hearing aids (BAHA) occasionally cause soft tissue problems due to abutment. Because Sophono does not have abutment penetrating skin, it is thought that Sophono has no soft tissue problem relating to abutment. On the other hand, transcutaneous device's output is reported to be 10 to 15 dB lower than percutaneous device.

Advantages of binaural amplification to acceptable noise level of directional hearing aid users.

Objectives: The goal of the present study was to examine whether Acceptable Noise Levels (ANLs) would be lower (greater acceptance of noise) in binaural listening than in monaural listening condition and also whether meaningfulness of background speech noise would affect ANLs for directional microphone hearing aid users. In addition, any relationships between the individual binaural benefits on ANLs and the individuals' demographic information were investigated.

Methods: Fourteen hearing aid users (mean age, 64 years) participated for experimental testing.

A case of auditory neuropathy with recovery of normal hearing.

Newborn hearing screening test is very important in the early diagnosis of childhood hearing loss because it affects language development. Auditory neuropathy is a spectrum disorder characterized by abnormal auditory brainstem response but preserved otoacoustic emission and cochlear microphonics. In general, auditory neuropathy patients have poor word discrimination and variable patterns of pure tone audiometry.

Genetic Screening of GJB2 and SLC26A4 in Korean Cochlear Implantees: Experience of Soree Ear Clinic.

Objectives: Genetic hearing loss is highly heterogeneous and more than 100 genes are predicted to cause this disorder in humans. In spite of this large genetic heterogeneity, mutations in SLC26A4 and GJB2 genes are primarily responsible for the major etiologies of genetic hearing loss among Koreans. The purpose of this study is to investigate the genetic cause of deafness in Korean cochlear implantees by performing a genetic screening of the SLC26A4 and GJB2 genes.

Classification of external auditory canal cholesteatoma by computed tomography.

Objectives: We propose here a classification system for external auditory canal cholesteatoma (EACC). We classified the EACC by the computed tomography findings and clinical findings of the patients, and we evaluated the EACC characteristics by the proposed staging system.

Methods: Stage classification was done according to the results of temporal bone computed tomography and the clinical findings of the patients.

Clinical presentation and management of jugular foramen paraganglioma.

Objectives: Jugular foramen paraganglioma is a locally invasive, benign tumor, which grow slowly and causes various symptoms such as pulsatile tinnitus and low cranial nerve palsy. Complete surgical resection is regarded as the ideal management of these tumors. The goal of this study is to identify the clinical characteristics and most effective surgical approach for jugular foramen paraganglioma.

Correlation between enhanced MRI and surgical findings in herpes zoster oticus.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates good correlation between enhanced MRI and surgical findings.

Objectives: This study investigated the reliability of enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to make a surgical decision on the strategy for facial nerve decompression in herpes zoster oticus, by determining the degree of correlation between contrast enhancement in MRI and the pathologic change in the facial nerve.

Subjects And Methods: This retrospective study of 13 patients, who underwent facial nerve decompression with herpes zoster oticus, was designed to compare gadolinium-enhanced segment of facial nerve on MRI and the pathologically changed segment confirmed by surgical exploration, grouping them by the timing of operation after onset of facial paralysis.

Clinical significance of quantitative analysis of facial nerve enhancement on MRI in Bell's palsy.

Conclusions: Quantitative analysis of the facial nerve on the lesion side as well as the normal side, which allowed for more accurate measurement of facial nerve enhancement in patients with facial palsy, showed statistically significant correlation with the initial severity of facial nerve inflammation, although little prognostic significance was shown.

Objectives: This study investigated the clinical significance of quantitative measurement of facial nerve enhancement in patients with Bell's palsy by analyzing the enhancement pattern and correlating MRI findings with initial severity of facial palsy and clinical outcome.

Subjects And Methods: Facial nerve enhancement was measured quantitatively by using the region of interest on pre- and postcontrast T1-weighted images in 44 patients diagnosed with Bell's palsy.

Surgical treatment and outcomes of temporal bone chondroblastoma.

Chondroblastoma is an uncommon primary benign bone tumor that usually arises in the epiphyses of the long bones. Temporal bone chondroblastoma is a rare primary bone tumor that affects the floor of the middle cranial fossa and temporomandibular joint (TMJ). The biological nature of temporal bone chondroblastoma is occasionally aggressive because of local invasion and is known to have a high recurrence after curettage.

Statistical analysis of pure tone audiometry and caloric test in herpes zoster oticus.

Objectives: Pure tone audiometry and caloric test in patients with herpes zoster oticus were performed to determine the biologic features of the varicella zoster virus (VZV) and the pathogenesis of vestibulocochlear nerve disease in herpes zoster oticus.

Study Design: A retrospective chart review of 160 patients with herpes zoster oticus was designed in order to determine the classic characteristics of vestibulocochlear nerve disease associated with the syndrome. Speech frequency and isolated high frequency acoustic thresholds were analyzed based on severity of facial paralysis and patient age.

Jugular foramen schwannoma: analysis on its origin and location.

Objective: To examine the microsurgical anatomy of the jugular foramen and correlate anatomical findings to clinical manifestations of jugular foramen schwannomas concerning tumor origin and location.

Study Design: Anatomical analysis of jugular foramen was performed by dissection of 25 cadavers (50 sides). By retrospective review of 9 cases of jugular foramen schwannomas surgically treated, the origin and location of tumor were studied.

Correlation between MRI and operative findings in Bell's palsy and Ramsay Hunt syndrome.

Purpose: To investigate the correlation between gadolinium enhanced magnetic resonance image (MRI) results and surgical findings of facial nerves in Bell's palsy and Ramsay Hunt syndrome.

Materials And Methods: From 1995 to 2004, MRI was performed on 13 patients with Bell's palsy or Ramsay Hunt syndrome, who were offered with surgical decompression of the facial nerve through the middle cranial fossa approach. Gadolinium enhanced MRI was performed on all patients and the enhancement of the facial nerve was evaluated by radiology specialists.

A cochlear schwannoma presenting with sudden hearing loss.

A cochlear schwannoma is a rare tumor that arises from the cochlear nerve. Clinically, a cochlear schwannoma mimics the clinical features of sudden deafness or Meniere's disease. We report a case of cochlear schwannoma that presented with sudden hearing loss, which was diagnosed with gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging and removed using a transotic approach.

Management of facial nerve schwannoma in patients with favorable facial function.

Objective: We report six cases of facial nerve schwannomas in which surgical management allowed the preservation of facial nerve function. Specifically, this paper reports that a stripping surgery may provide favorable functional outcomes.

Study Design: A retrospective review of preoperative and postoperative data for six patients with facial nerve schwannoma that had normal facial nerve function or a House-Brackmann grade II facial palsy before the surgery.

Intracanalicular facial nerve schwannoma.

Objective: To investigate the capability of preoperative evaluations in predicting the precise anatomic origin of intracanalicular tumors.

Study Design: We conducted a retrospective case review.

Setting: Tertiary referral center.

Wheel-shaped cartilage-perichondrium composite graft for the prevention of retraction pocket development.

Conclusion: Our technique can decrease the formation of retraction pockets and improve hearing function. The wheel-shaped cartilage-perichondrium composite graft (Wheel CPCG) can be considered a good material for a drum graft, and it is easy to insert a ventilation tube, in case of initial drum retraction.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to introduce the novel surgical technique of a Wheel CPCG with one-stage ossiculoplasty to prevent a retraction pocket and subsequent cholesteatoma after intact canal wall tympanomastoidectomy.

Hearing results after ossiculoplasty using Polycel prosthesis.

Conclusions: Polycel is an effective material to use in ossiculoplasty. Good prognostic factors for hearing improvement after ossiculoplasty were healthy middle ear mucosa and the presence of stapes superstructure.

Objective: During the last decade, the surgical use of alloplasts has become increasingly widespread among otologists.

New method of identifying the internal auditory canal as seen from the middle cranial fossa approach.

Objectives: The middle cranial fossa approach allows one to remove acoustic tumors and preserve the facial nerve and hearing. However, there are no consistent landmarks on the surface of the temporal bone to identify the internal auditory canal. This study was designed to identify the internal auditory canal by use of external and internal references as seen during the middle cranial fossa approach.

Mode of parotid involvement in external auditory canal carcinoma.

Until now, little was known about the mode of parotid involvement in external auditory canal (EAC) carcinoma. The incidence of parotid node metastasis and direct parotid invasion was examined in patients with EAC carcinoma. The study comprised 11 patients with squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) and 10 patients with adenoid cystic carcinomas (ACC).

Microsurgical anatomy of the perigeniculate ganglion area as seen from the middle cranial fossa approach.

The middle cranial fossa approach is useful for decompressing the perigeniculate ganglion area of the facial nerve in patients with serviceable hearing. The present study was designed to investigate the microsurgical anatomy of the perigeniculate ganglion area of the facial nerve from the point of view of the middle cranial fossa. We dissected 20 human temporal bones under a microscope using a middle fossa approach, and measured the angle between the lines drawn from the malleus head to the vertical crest and from the malleus head to the geniculate ganglion, and the distance from the malleus head to the geniculate ganglion.

Identification of a novel SNAP25 interacting protein (SIP30).

Soluble N -ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptors (SNAREs), including synaptosome-associated proteins of 25 kDa (SNAP25), syntaxins, and vesicle-associated membrane proteins (VAMP), are essential for regulated exocytosis of synaptic vesicles in neurotransmission. We identified a cDNA coding for a novel protein of 266 amino acids that we have named SIP30 (S NAP25 interacting protein of 30 kDa). SIP30 is expressed abundantly in brain and slightly in testis and kidney.