Preoperative Anxiety Levels and Postoperative Middle Ear Surgery Pain Levels.

Objective: This study aimed to characterize self-reported postoperative pain after tympanoplasty and tympanomastoidectomy and correlate pain severity with the patient's preoperative anxiety state.

Study Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Tertiary referral medical center.

Characterization of pain after tympanoplasty and tympanomastoidectomy and analysis of risk factors. A prospective cohort study.

Purpose: To characterize postoperative pain after tympanoplasty and tympanomastoidectomy and correlate between pain severity and various technical aspects of the surgery.

Methods: We carried out a prospective cohort study of patients undergoing ear surgery in a tertiary referral center between 7/2018 and 7/2019. Patients filled in a pain questionnaire and scored pain intensity on a visual analog scale preoperatively and on postoperative days (POD) 1-4, 21, and 49.

Case Series and Systematic Review of Treatment Outcomes for Auricular Pseudocysts.

Objective: Auricular pseudocyst (AP: intracartilaginous cyst, endochondral AP, cystic chondromalacia, and benign idiopathic cystic chondromalacia) is a benign condition of unknown etiology. This report systematically reviews the published demographics, treatment protocols, and outcomes of AP between the various medical disciplines, and compares the findings to a theretofore-unreported 12-patient cohort. Primary outcome measure was AP complete resolution without recurrence.

Does Sinusitis Affect Lateralization of a Tuning Fork Weber Test?

Objective: To describe the effect of sinusitis on Weber test lateralization which normally lateralizes toward the ear of a conductive hearing loss and away from the ear of a sensorineural hearing loss; to investigate whether the presence of an extra-aural condition might affect Weber test results.

Study Design: Descriptive study.

Setting: Tertiary referral center.

Subjective Visual Vertical Evaluation by a Smartphone-based Test-Taking the Phone Out of the Bucket.

Objective: To measure the subjective visual vertical (SVV) in patients suffering from peripheral vestibular disorders versus controls, using a smartphone-based test designed to simulate the bucket test, in order to validate it as an available tool for the clinician.

Study Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Academic tertiary medical center.

Balance Performance of Post-Call Medical Residents.

Background: Fatigue is thought of as a leading cause of iatrogenic accidents. A significant deterioration in qualitative balance function has been shown in sleep deprived individuals.

Aim/objectives: To quantify the degree to which balance is impaired by sleep deprivation (SD) in post-call medical residents.

Outcome of Balloon Eustachian Tuboplasty in SCUBA Divers.

Objectives: Good Eustachian tube (ET) function is necessary in order to equalize middle ear (ME) pressure with ambient pressures and avoid barotrauma among divers. Since placement of ventilation tubes is not compatible with diving, balloon eustachian tuboplasty is a potential surgical solution for divers with ET dysfunction (ETD). This is the first report of the outcome of balloon tuboplasty for ETD among divers.

Iatrogenic cholesteatoma originating from a misplaced tympanomeatal flap during tympanoplasty: a series of five patients.

Purpose: To report our experience of a sequence of events that resulted in an iatrogenic cholesteatoma originating from the external auditory canal (EAC) years after tympanoplasty that had included a tympanomeatal flap.

Methods: Data on the presentation and pathogenesis of iatrogenic cholesteatomas arising from misplaced tympanomeatal flaps during tympanoplasty without mastoidectomy were retrieved from the patients' medical records and analyzed.

Results: Five patients were identified with cholesteatomas involving the EAC.

Should air travel be avoided shortly after an idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss?

: The effect of air travel on the recovery rate after idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL) has not been established. The advice to avoid flights is essentially based upon conjecture.: To analyze the recovery rate of patients who traveled by air shortly after they were treated for ISSNHL.

Endoscopic posterior cordotomy for treatment of dyspnea due to vocal fold immobility.

Introduction: Several surgical procedures have been described for the treatment of respiratory distress secondary to vocal fold immobility (VFI), but the contribution of posterior cordotomy (PC) to tracheostomy weaning or prevention has not been studied in depth, particularly in the acute setting. The objective of this study was to show the effectiveness of PC to relieve dyspnea, prevent the need for tracheostomy, and enable decannulation in patients with VFI.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study and reviewed the medical records of all patients whose dyspnea warranted surgical intervention from January 2013 to January 2018.

Tegmen attenuation in patients with idiopathic intracranial hypertension is progressive.

Objectives: To prove that temporal bone tegmen attenuation in patients with idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) is progressive.

Study Design: Retrospective blind study at a tertiary academic medical center.

Methods: Enrolled were medical records of patients with IIH that included at least two sequential computed tomography (CT) scans.

Hearing Improvement after Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss as a Predictor of Vestibular Schwannoma.

Introduction: Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) can be the presenting symptom of vestibular schwannoma (VS). Usually, steroidal treatment is given before magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is performed.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is a different pattern of steroidal treatment response after SSNHL in patients with and without a VS, in order to determine whether rapid hearing improvement can serve as a predictor of the presence of VS.

Optimal Head Position Following Intratympanic Injections of Steroids, As Determined by Virtual Reality.

Objectives: To study optimal head position after intratympanic steroid injections to enhance drug bioavailability.

Study Design: Application of virtual and in vitro models of the intratympanic anatomy.

Setting: The surgical 3-dimensional printing laboratory of a tertiary academic medical center.

Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio and Platelet-to-Lymphocyte Ratio among Patients with Vestibular Neuritis.

Objective: To compare the level of the inflammatory markers (IM) neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) among healthy subjects and those presenting with vestibular neuritis (VN).

Methods: A cross-sectional retrospective study was conducted in a tertiary hospital setting. The medical records of patients (20-60 years old) who were hospitalized between the years 2005 and 2014 with the diagnosis of VN were retrieved.

A Smartphone-Based Weber Test May Discriminate between a Conductive and a Sensorineural Hearing Loss.

Objective: The aim of this paper was to compare the accuracy of a smartphone-based Weber test (SPWT) with the traditional tuning fork Weber test (TFWT) in identifying and differentiating between sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) and conductive hearing loss (CHL).

Study Design: We conducted a prospective, noncontrolled clinical study.

Methods: Sixty patients referred to the emergency department due to unilateral hearing loss (HL) were enrolled.

Blast-Induced Cholesteatomas After Spontaneous Tympanic Membrane Healing.

Objectives: To characterize blast-induced cholesteatomas (BIC) in terms of symptoms, presentation, and location within the middle ear cleft (MEC).

Design: A search for all English language articles in "MEDLINE" via "PubMed" and "Google Scholar" was conducted.

Results: A total of 67 ears with BIC were included.

Age-dependent variations of scalp thickness in the area designated for a cochlear implant receiver stimulator.

Objective: The integrity of the scalp overlying a cochlear implant receiver stimulator (RS) is critical for the long-term survival of the implant. Exposure or extrusion of the device will likely result in the need for its removal. There is a global trend of acceleration of population aging, thus raising the prevalence of cochlear implantation (CI) in the elderly.

Superior semicircular canal dehiscence with concomitant otosclerosis-A literature review and case discussion.

Computed tomography scan should be performed as a routine before every stapes surgery, in order to exclude concomitant superior semicircular canal dehiscence, since no other clinical, audiological, or electro-physiological criteria are available to exclude concomitant superior semicircular canal dehiscence in the otosclerotic temporal bone.

The association between auditory nerve neurovascular conflict and sudden unilateral sensorineural hearing loss.

Hypothesis: There may be an association between a neurovascular conflict (NVC) of the auditory nerve and unilateral sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL).

Background: Compression of cranial nerves by vascular structures can lead to significant symptomatology that may require surgical decompression. Notable examples are trigeminal neuralgia and hemifacial spasm.

Tri-dimensional model for ventilation tube permeability.

Purpose: Ventilation tubes (VT) in the tympanic membrane expose the middle ear (ME) to the external auditory canal and its content. It carries the risk of penetration of contaminated material and could provide a pathway for the delivery of drugs into the ME. The aim of this study was to use a printed 3D-model of the external auditory canal (EAC) and ME to assess the permeability of various VTs to different fluids.

Rigid dilatation of pediatric laryngotracheal stenosis as an adequate alternative to balloon dilatation.

Introduction: Endoscopic balloon dilation (EBD) is the mainstay of endoscopic therapy for laryngotracheal stenosis (LTS), although there is no evidence that it achieves better results than traditional rigid laryngeal dilators. Rigid bougie dilators are less expensive and easier to use, and confer the advantage of providing tactile information about the stenosis to the surgeon. We analyzed the outcome of endoscopic rigid bougie dilatation of LTS in a large series of children and compared it to the reported results of EBD in the same setting.

Clinical Implications of the Association Between Temporal Bone Tegmen Defects and Superior Semicircular Canal Dehiscence.

Objective: To discuss the clinical implications of the association between temporal bone tegmen dehiscence (TD) necessitating surgical correction and the adjacent dehiscent superior semicircular canal (SSCD).

Study Design: Retrospective.

Setting: Tertiary referral center.

Changes in the epidemiology and clinical features of acute mastoiditis following the introduction of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.

Objectives: Seven years after the introduction of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV) in Israel, its effect on the incidence and severity of episodes of acute mastoiditis (AM) remains unclear. The primary objective of this study was to determine the incidence of AM and describe its clinical features in children during the years that followed the introduction of the PCV13 in comparison with the pre-PCV period.

Methods: Included in this retrospective comparative case series were all pediatric patients diagnosed with AM between Jan.

A Subjective Rating Scale for Initial Assessment of Sudden Unilateral Sensorineural Hearing Loss.

Objective: To examine the value of a subjective numerical rating scale (NRS) in the initial evaluation of patients suspected of suffering from unilateral sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) until a formal audiogram is available.

Study Design: Prospective noncontrolled clinical study.

Methods: Thirty-one consecutive patients referred to the emergency department due to suspected unilateral SSNHL and with no other aural pathology by history or physical examination were enrolled.