Utility of otoacoustic emissions and olivocochlear reflex in predicting vulnerability to noise-induced inner ear damage.

Aim: The aim of the present study was to explore the possible utility of otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) and efferent system strength to determine vulnerability to noise exposure in a clinical setting.

Materials And Methods: The study group comprised 344 volunteers who had just begun mandatory basic training as Hellenic Corps Officers Military Academy cadets. Pure-tone audiograms were obtained on both ears.

Systemic, intratympanic and combined administration of steroids for sudden hearing loss. A prospective randomized multicenter trial.

Purpose: The purpose of this prospective, randomized, multicenter clinical trial was to compare the therapeutic efficacy of systemic versus intratympanic versus combined administration of steroids in the treatment of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

Methods: 102 patients with an up to 14 days history of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss were randomized to 1 of 3 arms and followed prospectively. Group A (35 patients) received prednisolone intravenously followed by methylprednisolone orally, whereas Group B (34 patients) were administered intratympanic methylprednisolone.

Hyperbaric oxygen as salvage treatment for idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

Objective: To investigate the efficacy of hyperbaric oxygen therapy as a salvage treatment for patients with sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL).

Materials And Methods: Fifteen patients affected by sudden hearing loss and treated with hyperbaric oxygen after steroid and vasodilator therapy failed constituted the study group. A control group of 30 patients who were treated with steroids and vasodilator alone was also included.

Bardet-Biedl syndrome and a large concha bullosa pyocele.

Bardet-Biedl syndrome is a rare disease involving rode cone dystrophy, polydactyly, obesity, learning disabilities, hypogonadism and renal anomalies, symptoms caused by immotile cilia dysfunction. We report the first case of this syndrome in a teenager with an endonasal mass secondary to pyocele of a concha bullosa. The patient was treated successfully with endoscopic sinus surgery.

Perilymphatic fistula of the round window after whiplash injury: another cause of inner ear conductive hearing loss.

Perilymphatic fistula is usually associated with sudden or fluctuating sensorineural hearing loss. We present a case of whiplash injury in a patient who showed conductive hearing loss at low frequencies due to a perilymphatic fistula occurring in the round window. Although no middle ear pathology was found, the symptoms and laboratory findings were mimicking the so called "third mobile window" phenomenon, but without the presence of inner ear dehiscence.

Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials in children after cochlear implantation.

Objective: The aim of this study was to report the effect of unilateral cochlear implantation to vestibular system using vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) by air-conduction in a sample of children aged less than 5 years.

Materials: This study consisted of 10 children (6 boys and 4 girls), who underwent cochlear implantation surgery at our clinic, and 8 normal hearing children (5 boys and 3 girls) matched for age. The VEMPs were performed before, 10 days, and 6 months after surgery.

Vertigo during the Epley maneuver and success rate in patients with BPPV.

To investigate whether reported vertigo during the Epley maneuver predicts therapeutic success in patients with benign paroxysmal positioning vertigo of the posterior semicircular canal (pc-BPPV). Fifty consecutive adult patients with pc-BPPV, based on a positive Dix-Hallpike test (DHT), were treated with the Epley maneuver and retested after 2 days. Patients were asked to report the presence of vertigo upon assuming each of the four positions of the maneuver.

Lateralized olfactory difference in patients with a nasal septal deviation before and after septoplasty*.

Background: Patients with a smell disorder and less often, healthy people, exhibit an olfactory difference between the two sides of the nose. Higher olfactory thresholds are correlated with the obstructed side of a nasal septal deviation (NSD). With this prospective study we sought to investigate if a NSD compromises the olfactory identification.

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo in the first acute attack of Ménière's disease.

A 69-year-old woman, with no history of vertigo attacks, presented with the classical triad of symptoms for Ménière's disease in the right ear (vertigo, tinnitus, fullness). Upon admission, the patient had a third-degree horizontal nystagmus beating to the right, after beating towards the left ear a few hours earlier. Audiometry confirmed a severe sensorineural hearing loss in the right ear, especially at low and high frequencies.

Conversion of canalolithiasis to cupulolithiasis in the course of a horizontal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo case.

The benign paroxysmal positional vertigo of the horizontal semicircular canal is manifested with either geotropic or apogeotropic horizontal nystagmus. A 61-year-old male patient who experienced repeated episodes of positional vertigo is presented in this study. The vertigo was reported to be more severe while rotating his head to the left and then to the right.

An alternative manoeuvre for posterior canal BPPV treatment.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a new manoeuvre in the treatment of posterior canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (p-BPPV) based on the idea that highly accelerated endolymphatic flow may lead a mass of otoconia to collide with the walls of the posterior semicircular canal, resulting in its disintegration and/or in the expulsion of the free particles from the posterior semicircular canal.

Material-methods: Our study group included 146 patients with a diagnosis of p-BPPV. All patients underwent the new manoeuvre, which consisted of several high-acceleration successive head movements in the horizontal plane performed by the same physician.

Are postural restrictions after an Epley maneuver unnecessary? First results of a controlled study and review of the literature.

Objective: Postural restrictions after canalith repositioning maneuvers (CRM) for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo of the posterior semicircular canal (p-BPPV) have no proven value and therefore most physicians regard them as unnecessary. The aim of this study was to assess the short-term efficacy of head and body movement limitations after a single Epley maneuver. A review of the literature was performed to assess the current level of evidence for the efficacy of postural restrictions.

Effects of GSM cellular phones on human hearing: the European project "GUARD".

The European multicenter project named GUARD involved nine centers and aimed to assess potential changes in auditory function as a consequence of exposure to low-intensity electromagnetic fields (EMFs) produced by GSM cellular phones. Participants were healthy young adults without any evidence of hearing or ear disorders. Auditory function was assessed immediately before and after exposure to EMFs, and only the exposed ear was tested.

Sensorineural hearing loss and word deafness caused by a mesencephalic lesion: clinicoelectrophysiologic correlations.

Objective: To assess the role of inferior colliculi as a generator of Wave V of brainstem auditory evoked potentials and in modulating the olivocochlear efferent auditory system.

Study Design: Case review.

Setting: University and tertiary referral centers.

The efficacy of medication on tinnitus due to acute acoustic trauma.

Seventy-two young males suffering from acute acoustic trauma with tinnitus due to gunshots were included prospectively in the study. Forty of the subjects had the left ear affected, four the right ear and the remaining 28 sustained bilateral acoustic traumas. The mean time of admission after onset of symptoms was 28 days (5-88 days).

Transiently evoked otoacoustic emissions as a prognostic indicator in idiopathic sudden hearing loss.

Idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISHL) remains a controversial topic. So far, there are no proven objective auditory factors to establish prognosis. Otoacoustic emissions reflect the functional integrity of the outer hair cells.

Posterior pharyngeal wall schwannoma (case report).

A rare case of a schwannoma localized on the posterior pharyngeal wall is presented. It concerns a young man with an inflammatory ulcerated mass in the posterior wall of the pharynx causing severe difficulty in swallowing. Although schwannomas of the lateral pharyngeal wall are common, only one case located on the posterior wall has been described.

Correlation between vestibular and cochlear measures in internal ear disorders.

A study was carried out on vestibular and cochlear measures of 20 patients with internal ear disorders. It was shown that the vestibular findings do not always match the cochlear ones. A comparison of the various quantitative measures of the post-caloric responses with the clinical picture indicated that the average slow-phase velocity provides a good measure of the vestibular function.

True giant-cell tumour of the mastoid. A case report.

The authors describe a case of a very extensive giant-cell tumour of the mastoid in a 5 1/2-year-old girl. This is very rare, and it is only the fourth one documented in the English literature. The age of the patient is of great importance, as well as the fact that the middle and the inner ear were not involved, although the tumour was very extensive.