INTRODUCTION Chronic otitis media (COM), a persistent and durable inflammation and infection of the middle ear, is a common disorder. Alterations in the contralateral ear in sufferers have been observed in recent years. Because only a few studies have been reported in this area, we performed this study in order to assess alterations in the contralateral ear of patients with COM. MATERIALS AND...

Patients with autoimmune inner ear disease develop rapidly progressive sensorineural hearing loss over a period of several weeks or months, often accompanied by vestibular loss. This disease can occur as a distinct clinical entity or in association with an underlying autoimmune disorder. Treatment comprises immunosuppression by corticosteroids, cytostatic drugs or tumor necrosis factor-α antago...

The aim of this study was the evaluation of hearing threshold in patients with beta thalasemia major. For this purpose, 178 patients who were under regular chelation therapy with desferrioxamine (DFO) were selected and underwent ear, nose, throat examinations and audiological evaluations. Patients were between 4 to 25 years old and 54.9% were male and 45.1% were female. Three patients were excl...

In an animal model, we examined the extratympanic electrocochleographic response to static pressure changes (middle-ear pressure and intracranial pressure [ICP]) with attention to the summating potential (SP), action potential (AP), and the SP/AP ratio. With a closed middle ear, raised or lowered middle-ear pressure and raised or lowered ICP resulted in congruent increases of the SP and the SP/...

UNLABELLED Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) related to chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) was studied to clarify the involvement of cholesteatomas in this context. AIM to evaluate SNHL related to CSOM and its association with cholesteatomas, disease duration and patients ages. METHODS Retrospective analysis of 115 patients with CSOM with and without cholesteatoma submitted to surgical...

In this review the authors discuss the physiopathologic and electrophysiologic changes of the inner ear in Meniere's disease, otosclerosis, ototoxicity, acoustic neuroma, presbycusis, noise-induced hearing loss, metabolic hearing loss, perilymphatic fistula, syphilis, autoimmune inner ear disease, congenital genetic hearing loss, and viral labyrinthitis. The etiology and pathogenesis of hearing...

Etiologies for many inner ear disorders, including autoimmune inner ear disease, sudden sensorineural hearing loss, and Meniere's disease, remain unknown. Indirect evidence suggests an immune-mediated process involving an allergic or autoimmune mechanism. We examined whether known immunogenic proteins share sequence similarity with inner ear proteins, which may lead to cross-reactivity and detr...

Introduction: Otalgia is one of the complaints which may occur at any age. The etiology of the pain may be in the ear, structures around the ear or other head and neck structures. This is caused by the complex nervous connections in the head and neck areas, the ear, the pharynx and the nose. Since understanding the etiologies of referred otalgia can help in the assessment and treatment of the ...

OBJECTIVES To review the management, causative organisms, morbidity and mortality of intracranial abscesses secondary to sinus and ear disease. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING Retrospective, case note review of suppurative intracranial complications of ear and sinus disease in patients admitted to a regional neurosurgical centre between 1980 and 2004. These data were compared with published material...

Sensorineural hearing loss of immune-mediated origin may be present as a symptom in systemic autoimmune diseases or may occur as a primary disorder without other organ involvement (auto-immune inner ear disease). The diagnosis of auto-immune inner ear disease is still predicated on clinical features and to date specific diagnostic tests are not available. We report a case of right-sided sudden ...