Middle ear barotrauma is one of the common complications of SCUBA diving representing acute otalgia, hearing loss, and bleeding. But occurrence of facial palsy is rare. Here we report a case of a 30-year-old navy diver suffered middle ear barotrauma with transient facial palsy after SCUBA diving. He felt difficulty in equalizing the pressure in middle ear with Valsalva maneuver during diving, a...

T-817MA (1-{3-[2-(1-benzothiophen-5-yl)ethoxy]propyl}azetidin-3-ol maleate), a neurotrophic compound newly synthesized for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, has been found to reduce oxidative stress and exert neuroprotective effects. By assessing the auditory functioning and observing the cochlear sensory epithelia, we investigated whether T-817MA protects the cochlea from inner ear barotra...

INTRODUCTION The sharpened Romberg test (SRT) is commonly used by diving and hyperbaric physicians as an indicator of neurological decompression illness (DCI). People who spend a prolonged time on a boat at sea experience impairment in their balance on returning to shore, a condition known as mal de debarquement ('sea legs'). This conditioning of the vestibular system to the rocking motion of a...

BACKGROUND Middle-ear barotrauma (MEB) is one of the most common side effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO2). The incidence of MEB has been shown to vary between treatment centers and patients. This study was aimed to determine which patients are at high risk of MEB. MATERIALS AND METHODS Prospective study including all the patients treated in a multiplace HBO2 chamber between January an...

Introduction: Although hyperbaric oxygen therapy is required in disasters or emergency situations, barotrauma, which the most common complication, continues to occur. If barotrauma occurs during treatment, treatment stopped, and there no proper preventive method for this. Therefore, authors evaluated degree of prevention by applying a tympanometry-based anti-barotrauma device (ABT). Method: The...

BACKGROUND Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a growing problem affecting millions of people in the United States. The prevalence of OSA has risen drastically in the past few decades concurrently with the increasing prevalence of obesity. Subsequently, there has been an ever-increasing rise in the use of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) devices. While using CPAP devices may lead to many...

Despite the commonly observed condition of middle and inner ear barotrauma among divers, there is little evidence of insidious and permanent development of sensorineural hearing loss associated with diving. An audiometric survey was performed on a group of 120 divers and 166 non divers from the Royal Malaysian Naval Base in Lumut, West Malaysia between July to December 1991. The results of this...

History of underwater diving dates back to antiquity. Breath-hold technique in diving was known to the ancient nations. However, deep diving progressed only in the early decades of the 19th century as the result of advancements in efficient underwater technologies which subsequently led to invention of sophisticated sets of scuba diving in the 20th century. Currently, diving is performed for va...

BACKGROUND People suffer unique health problems in high altitude areas, due to such factors as elevation, aircraft ascent and descent, extreme cold, hypoxia, hypobaria, and low relative humidity. This study was conducted to evaluate ENT morbidity at high altitude. METHODS Serving soldiers introduced to a high altitude environment who presented with various ENT symptoms were examined to identi...