[Revision Myringoplasty Using Thin-Sliced Cartilage for Postoperative Reperforation in Patients with Chronic Otitis Media].

Myringoplasty is one of the basic procedures in otologic surgery, and is important to achieve good hearing outcome. The temporal fascia is most widely used and considered to be a stable graft in this procedure, although 10-20% of patients develop reperforation after surgery, which is often hard to repair, even by revision surgery. We herein conducted revision myringoplasty using a cartilage graft to repair postoperative reperforation in 7 patients (8 ears) with chronic otitis media.

Presence of osteoclasts in middle ear cholesteatoma: a study of undecalcified bone sections.

Conclusions: Osteoclasts are unlikely to be involved in bone resorption in middle ear cholesteatoma.

Objective: The authors searched for osteoclasts in undecalcified bone sections in patients with middle ear cholesteatoma to determine whether and to what extent these cells are involved in this disease.

Methods: Twelve patients, eight men and four women, aged 30-87 years, who underwent tympanomastoidectomy were enrolled.

Osteoclasts are not activated in middle ear cholesteatoma.

It is unclear whether osteoclasts are present and activated in cholesteatomas. We explored the expression of messenger RNA (mRNA) for osteoclast biomarkers and regulating factors in middle ear cholesteatomas to elucidate the level of osteoclast activity in this disease. Bone powder was collected from 14 patients with cholesteatomatous and noncholesteatomatous chronic otitis media during tympanomastoidectomy, separately from cortical bone of the mastoid (clean bone powder), from bone neighboring cholesteatoma (cholesteatomatous bone powder), and from bone of the air cells and antrum of noncholesteatomatous chronic otitis media patients (noncholesteatomatous bone powder).

Partial mastoid obliteration combined with soft-wall reconstruction for middle ear cholesteatoma.

Objectives: The objective was to analyze the surgical outcomes of tympanoplasty with partial mastoid obliteration and soft-wall reconstruction for middle ear cholesteatoma.

Methods: Sixty-nine patients (73 ears) with fresh middle ear cholesteatomas, 42 men and 27 women aged 6 to 89 years, were retrospectively analyzed. The cholesteatomas were the pars flaccida and tensa types in 59 and 12 ears, respectively.

Possible participation of acidic pH in bone resorption in middle ear cholesteatoma.

Objectives/hypothesis: The etiopathology of bone resorption in cholesteatoma is unclear. We studied pH in middle ear cholesteatoma tissue and the permeability of the cholesteatoma epithelium in an attempt to elucidate the mechanism of bone resorption in this disease.

Study Design: Laboratorial study.

Identification of pannexins in rat nasal mucosa.

Pannexins are a second family of gap-junction proteins in vertebrates, classified as pannexin-1, pannexin-2, and pannexin-3. Pannexin-1 is one of the candidates for channel-mediated ATP release into the extracellular space. In airway epithelia, ATP signaling modulates multiple cellular functions such as mucus/ion secretion and mucociliary clearance systems.

[Prognostic factors of IgA nephropathy after tonsillectomy].

Tonsillectomy is one of the prevailing treatments for IgA nephropathy. This retrospective study aimed to elucidate prognostic factors for the postoperative kidney function of tonsillectomized patients with IgA nephropathy. Forty consecutive patients with IgA nephropathy who underwent tonsillectomy in our department between 1999 and 2008 were enrolled.

[Recovery of bone conduction hearing level after stapes surgery in otosclerosis].

Although otosclerosis is essentially a middle ear disease, patients with this disease often exhibit mixed hearing loss. This discrepancy is thought to be explained by the following mechanism: the resonance of the ossicular chain is disturbed by the fixation of stapes, leading to the attenuation of inertial bone conduction. The bone-conduction hearing level usually recovers after stapes surgery.

Different expressions of erbB1/2 and tight junction proteins in hypertrophic inferior turbinates and nasal polyps.

Both inferior turbinate hypertrophy and nasal polyp formation entail the enlargement of the nasal mucosa caused by rhinosinusitis, but their macro/microscopic and clinical findings differ markedly. This study aimed at investigating differences in the expressions of erbB1/2 and the tight junction proteins, claudin-1 and tricellulin, in the two tissues. Ten inferior turbinates and ten nasal polyps were collected.

Synergism of Staphylococcus aureus colonization and allergic reaction in the nasal cavity in mice.

Background: The aim of this study is to investigate the reciprocal effect of Staphylococcus aureus colonization and allergic rhinitis in an allergy model of mice.

Methods: BALB/c mice with intraperitoneal ovalbumin (OVA) sensitization and/or intranasal S. aureus inoculation were prepared.

Efficacy of intratympanic steroid administration on idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss in comparison with hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

Objectives/hypothesis: The efficacy of intratympanic steroid administration was examined in comparison with hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy in patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL).

Study Design: Retrospective study.

Methods: Two hundred seventy-six consecutive patients with ISSNHL (average hearing levels at 250, 500, 1,000, 2,000, and 4,000 Hz ≥ 40 dB; time from onset to treatment ≤30 days) were enrolled.

Expression of epidermal growth factors, erbBs, in the nasal mucosa of patients with chronic hypertrophic rhinitis.

Purpose: To investigate the expression of erbBs in the nasal mucosa of patients with chronic hypertrophic rhinitis.

Procedures: Inferior turbinates were collected from 12 turbinectomized patients with allergic and nonallergic chronic hypertrophic rhinitis. Differential cell counts in the peripheral blood and allergy tests were conducted before surgery.

Coexistence of pyriform sinus fistula, ectopic lingual thyroid, and ectopic cervical thymus.

Objective: We report an extremely rare case of coexistence of pyriform sinus fistula, ectopic lingual thyroid, and ectopic cervical thymus.

Case Report: A 16-year-old girl with ectopic lingual thyroid had suffered repetitive painful swelling in the left anterior neck. Barium swallow radiography and computed tomography revealed a fistula arising from the pyriform sinus running down to the anterior neck.

Nasopharyngeal Streptococcus pneumoniae carriage in Japanese children attending day-care centers.

Objectives: We conducted a prospective bacteriological survey to investigate antibiotic resistance-related genetic characteristics and the turnover of nasopharyngeal Streptococcus pneumoniae carriage in healthy children in day-care centers (DCCs).

Methods: A total of 363 nasopharyngeal mucus samples were collected from children aged 0 to 6 years attending two DCCs in the summer of 2004 (n=181) and the following winter (n=182). We obtained 157 S.

Prediction of hearing outcomes by distortion product otoacoustic emissions in patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

Objective: To investigate whether distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) can be a prognostic indicator of hearing outcomes in patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL).

Methods: Seventy-eight consecutive patients with ISSNHL were enrolled. DPOAEs were measured at the first hospital visit.

Prediction model for hearing outcome in patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

The aim of this study is to develop a regression model for predicting hearing outcome in patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL). A total of 174 consecutive patients with ISSNHL (average of the hearing levels at 250, 500, 1,000, 2,000, and 4,000 Hz was ≥40 dB; time from onset to treatment was ≤30 days) were retrospectively analyzed. They received steroid administration (400 mg/day of hydrocortisone sodium succinate followed by tapered doses) in combination with hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

Drainage of the tracheal blind pouch created by laryngotracheal separation.

Laryngotracheal separation is a simple and reliable operation for the treatment of patients with repetitive and intractable aspiration; however, it is apprehended that pooling in the tracheal blind pouch may cause postoperative complications. In the present study, we examined drainage of the blind pouch created by laryngotracheal separation. Fourteen patients aged 3-63 years with repetitive aspiration pneumonia underwent laryngotracheal separation by the modified Lindeman procedure.

Digastric muscle sew-up procedure for the repair of the floor of the mouth following pull-through operation for oral cancers.

Objectives: We report the digastric muscle sew-up procedure for the repair of the floor of the mouth following the pull-through operation for advanced oral cancers.

Methods: Eleven patients with advanced oral cancers (of the tongue in 8 cases and of the floor of the mouth in 3 cases) were retrospectively analyzed. One-third glossectomy and hemiglossectomy were performed in 4 patients each; the other 3 patients underwent tumor resection on the floor of the mouth.

Nasopharyngeal Haemophilus influenzae carriage in Japanese children attending day-care centers.

We conducted a prospective bacteriological survey to investigate antibiotic resistance-related genetic characteristics and the turnover of nasopharyngeal Haemophilus influenzae carriage in healthy children in day-care centers (DCCs). A total of 363 nasopharyngeal mucus samples were collected from children aged 0 to 6 years attending two DCCs in the summer of 2004 (n = 184) and the following winter (n = 179). We obtained 172 H.

Endoscopic sinus surgery for the treatment of organized hematoma of the maxillary sinus.

Organized hematoma is a benign and non-neoplastic lesion, however, differential diagnosis from neoplastic diseases is always problematic, and patients are often forced to sustain excessive surgical invasion. We retrospectively studied the characteristics of imaging findings of organized hematoma of the maxillary sinus, and estimated the validity and effectiveness of endoscopic sinus surgery for the treatment of this disease. Three patients (2 men and a woman, ranging in age from 50 to 62 years) with organized hematoma of the maxillary sinus who underwent endoscopic sinus surgery were retrospectively analyzed.

Chronic nasal obstruction causes daytime sleepiness and decreased quality of life even in the absence of snoring.

Background: There has been a growing awareness that nasal obstruction may impair various daily and social activities. We performed a questionnaire survey in a working population to clarify the contribution made by snoring concomitant with nasal obstruction to daytime sleepiness and quality of life (QOL).

Methods: Seven thousand nine hundred eighty daytime workers were asked to complete questionnaires, 7702 responded, and the data from 3442 subjects were finally analyzed.

Prostaglandin E1 versus steroid in combination with hyperbaric oxygen therapy for idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

Objective: We conducted a controlled retrospective analysis of patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL) in order to investigate the effect of prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) plus hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy in comparison with that of steroid plus HBO therapy.

Methods: One hundred and ninety-six consecutive patients with ISSNHL (hearing levels > or ==40dB; time from the onset of hearing loss to the start of treatment < or ==30 days) were enrolled. Ninety-five patients underwent PGE1 plus HBO therapy (PG group) and 101 underwent steroid administration plus HBO therapy (steroid group).

[Evaluation of quality of life in patients with allergic rhinitis].

Nasal symptoms of allergic rhinitis, such as watery rhinorrhea, sneezing and nasal obstruction, are thought to result in reduction in quality of life (QOL). In this study, we evaluated the QOL scores of patients suffering from allergic rhinitis, using the Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaire (RQLQ) and the Short Form-36 (SF-36). One hundred twenty six patients with allergic rhinitis who visited the department of otolaryngology of UOEH and affiliated hospitals from April, 2003 to March, 2004 were enrolled in this study.

Clinical features of head and neck cancer patients with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Conclusions: The risk factors for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) detection in head and neck cancer patients are the duration of hospitalization, intravenous hyperalimentation, prior antibiotic use, and the coexistence of other pathogens.

Objectives: To shed light on the clinical characteristics of MRSA-positive inpatients with head and neck cancers. The secondary goal was to evaluate risk factors for MRSA detection in comparison with methicillin-sensitive S.

[Survey of nasopharyngeal carriage of Haemophilus influenzae and Streptococcus pneumoniae in infants at day care centers].

Infants at day care centers tend to contract repetitive upper respiratory infections and prolonged otitis media. The increase in antimicrobial-resistant bacteria, particularly in infants, has given rise to a stubborn therapeutic problem. We studied the nasopharyngeal carriage and drug resistance to Haemophilus influenzae (H.