Ear / Nose / Throat
Cochlear implants in children a safe procedure
In the six decades since French and American surgeons implanted the first cochlear hearing devices, the procedure in children has become reliable, safe, and relatively free of severe complications, according to research presented during the 2008 American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO, in Chicago, IL.
The study, conducted by researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO, determined that out of 155 cases of pediatric implantation between 2001 and 2006, the rate of the most common complications in patients was below 3 percent, with only 25 total complications observed during that period. The most common complication was related to local surgical wounds in the ear flap. Furthermore, the rate of device failure, which was cited as the most common complication in previous studies, was very low in this study.
The researchers stress that it is critical that patients undergo a lifetime of continuous follow-up.
Chronic infection most common cause of adult tonsillectomy
Efforts to fill in holes in data regarding the primary causes of tonsillectomy in adults have determined that chronic infection is the most common reason for the procedure, according to new research presented at the 2008 American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO, in Chicago, IL.
The study, conducted by researchers at Emory University and Johns Hopkins University, reviewed the medical records of 361 adult patients who had tonsillectomies between 2001 and 2007. Among this group, over 50 percent (207 patients) had the surgery to treat chronic infection to the tonsils and throat, while a quarter (98 patients) had procedures done to correct upper airway obstructions. No trends in complications emerged as significantly different from those of the pediatric population.
Tonsillectomy in adults, while significantly less common than that in the pediatric population, still accounts for a third of all tonsillectomies.
Childhood ear infections may predispose to obesity later in life
Researchers are reporting new evidence of a possible link between a history of moderate to severe middle ear infections in childhood and a tendency to be overweight later in life. Their study suggests that prompt diagnosis and treatment of middle ear infections — one of the most common childhood conditions requiring medical attention — may help fight obesity in some people. The findings were presented today at the 236th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
Study leader Linda M. Bartoshuk, Ph.D., noted that chronic, repeated ear infections can damage the chorda tympani nerve, which passes through the middle ear and controls taste sensations. Damage to this nerve appears to intensify the desire for fatty or high-energy foods, which could result in obesity, she said.
Other research has shown that middle ear infections, or otitis media, are becoming more common in children. Childhood obesity is likewise on the rise and has reached epidemic levels, particularly in the United States. Although scientists have known for years that ear infections can lead to hearing loss in children that can result in speech and language impairment, a possible link between ear infections and obesity has been largely unexplored until now, said Bartoshuk, who is with the University of Florida’s Center for Smell and Taste in Gainesville.
Rhinoplasty technique preserves ethnic identity
African Americans who underwent a nose job, also referred to as rhinoplasty, reported a high degree of satisfaction with the results.
Rhinoplasty was conducted using a three-tiered approach that included an adjustment in nasal height and angle with a reshaping of the tip and a reduction in the width of the nose.
Dr. Oleh Slupchynskyj and Marzena Gieniusz analyzed questionnaires completed by 75 African American patients who underwent the procedure at their private practice, the Aesthetic Facial Surgery Center of New York and New Jersey in New York City.
GORE-TEX appears to be safe alternative for rhinoplasty
For patients who undergo plastic surgery on the nose (rhinoplasty), GORE-TEX implants are a safe and inexpensive alternative to using tissue grafts taken from another part of the patient’s body, according to the results of a 17-year review of more than 500 patients.
For initial and subsequent rhinoplasty procedures in patients with enough internal nasal tissue and external soft tissue coverage, “GORE-TEX should be strongly considered for major and minor corrections of the nasal wall and bridge in properly selected patients,” Dr. Krzysztof Conrad and colleagues, from the University of Toronto, advise.
The review, which was conducted at a teaching hospital, community hospital, and private facial cosmetic surgery center, involved 521 patients who were followed for up to 17 years. A total of 685 GORE-TEX implants were placed, all by one surgeon.
Hearing impairment is common among adults with diabetes
Hearing impairment is common in adults with diabetes, and diabetes seems to be an independent risk factor for the condition according to a study published today on the Web site of Annals of Internal Medicine.
“We found that hearing loss was much more common in people with diabetes than people without the disease,” says Kathleen E. Bainbridge, PhD, the study’s lead researcher. “The hearing loss we detected did not seem to be caused by other factors such as exposure to loud noises, certain medicines, and smoking.”
Using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, collected by the National Center for Health Statistics from 1999 to 2004, the researchers analyzed data from 5,140 adults aged 20 to 69 who completed an audiometric examination and a diabetes questionnaire.
Hearing implants improve quality of life
For people with profound hearing loss, getting a cochlear implant—an electronic device that restores partial hearing—leads to a marked improvement in speech recognition and quality of life, new research confirms.
A cochlear implant is surgically implanted in the inner ear and activated by a device worn outside the ear. Unlike a hearing aid, it does not make sound louder or clearer. Instead, the device bypasses damaged parts of the hearing system and directly stimulates the hearing nerve, allowing individuals who are profoundly hearing-impaired to hear sound.
“The results of our study are once more proof that cochlear implantation is indeed a successful treatment for improving quality of life and speech recognition for deaf patients,” write Dr. Anke Hirschfelder from Charite-Universitatsmedizin in Berlin and colleagues.
More than meets the ear in successful cocktail party conversations
Just picture the scene: you’re at a cocktail party, talking to someone you would like to get to know better but the background noise is making it hard to concentrate. Luckily, humans are very gifted at listening to someone speaking while many other people are talking loudly at the same time. This so-called cocktail-party-phenomenon is based on the ability of the human auditory system to decompose the acoustic world into discrete objects of perception.
It was originally believed that the major acoustic cue used by the auditory system to solve this task was directional information of the sound source, but even though localisation of different sound sources with two ears improves the performance, it can be achieved monaurally, for example in telephone conversations, where no directional information is available.
Scientists led by Holger Schulze at the Leibniz-Institute for Neurobiology in Magdeburg, and the Universities of Ulm, Newcastle and Erlangen have now found a neuronal mechanism in the auditory system that is able to solve the task based on the analysis of the temporal fine structure of the acoustic scene.
Less pain, bleeding with newer tonsil surgery
People who have their tonsils removed using an “intracapsular” technique—which removes at least 90 percent of tonsil tissue, but spares the tonsil capsule—seem to experience less bleeding and pain after surgery compared with those who have their tonsils out using the traditional tonsil removal surgery, new research suggests.
The findings stem from a look back at the medical charts of 2,944 patients who underwent tonsillectomy with or without removal of the adenoids (tissue at the back of the throat) at one center from January 2002 through May 2005. The patients included 1,731 who had the newer intracapsular tonsillectomy procedure and 1,212 who had traditional tonsillectomy.
Tonsillectomies Are Increasingly Being Performed to Treat Airway Obstructions
A new Mayo Clinic study indicates tonsillectomies are increasingly being performed to treat airway obstructions evidenced by snoring and sleep disorders as opposed to tonsil infections. The study, led by a Mayo Clinic Medical School student, will be presented Sept. 18 at the American Academy of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery in Washington, D.C.
“This research shows that obstructive airway problems causing sleep-disordered breathing are now the primary reason children and young adults are having their tonsils and adenoids removed,” says Britt Erickson, the Mayo Clinic medical student leading the team of researchers on this study.
Hearing loss may foretell infant deaths, study says
Hearing tests routinely administered to most newborns may soon be used to identify children that are at risk of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, according to Seattle researchers.
Records of hearing tests administered to 62 infants in Delaware show that those who subsequently died of SIDS had a unique pattern of partial hearing loss, according to a report this week in the journal Early Human Development.
Study Solves Mystery of Mammalian Ears
A 30-year scientific debate over how specialized cells in the inner ear amplify sound in mammals appears to have been settled more in favor of bouncing cell bodies rather than vibrating, hair-like cilia, according to investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
The finding could explain why dogs, cats, humans and other mammals have such sensitive hearing and the ability to discriminate among frequencies. The work also highlights the importance of basic hearing research in studies into the causes of deafness. A report on this work appears in the advanced online issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
Genetic disease carries risk of sudden deafness
People diagnosed with a genetic disease called von Hippel-Lindau disease or VHL may suddenly experience hearing loss caused by a tumor, researchers advise in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
VHL disease is characterized by the development of tumors in blood vessels in the retina of the eye and in the brain. Lesions and cysts can also develop in other parts of the body.
Hearing loss: Is there a cure?
How do you protect your ears from abuse in our increasingly noisy world? And once the damage is done, can you fix it? Jeremy Laurance sounds out the facts
Deafness, unlike blindness, has always been a bit of a joke. The flesh-coloured box behind the ear emitting periodic whistling sounds is, like the mother-in-law often found wearing it, easily mocked. Embarrassment and denial are the first reactions of those losing their second most important sense. As a result, most people are ignorant about the causes of hearing loss - and the cures.
Last week, the Government published new guidance to the NHS advising it to set up one-stop shops to speed up the assessment and fitting of hearing aids and to use the private sector to help tackle demand. But there is little guidance for individuals on how to protect their hearing and, when protection fails, how to navigate a market in which hearing aids range in price from less than £300 to almost £3,000.
Antibiotic ear drops favored over popular oral antibiotics for ear infections
A multicenter study on treating common ear infections in children with ear tubes adds to a growing body of evidence that favors antibiotic ear drops over antibiotics swallowed in pill or liquid form in such cases, a UT Southwestern Medical Center researcher reports.
The latest study, involving 80 children, showed that antibiotic ear drops performed better and faster in treating middle ear infections in children with ear tubes than merely taking oral antibiotics such as swallowing a pill or liquid. The findings are available online in the journal Pediatrics.
