Alterations of hearing after myringoplasty

Pre and postoperative hearing functions of 30 patients with successful myringoplasties were compared. A preoperative screening examination as well as an audiological evaluation were done. The tympanic cavities were thoroughly explored during the operation. A postoperative clinical and audiological follow-up for 3 months was carried out for ears with successful myringoplasties. Pure tone audiometry, tympanometry, and stapedial reflex were encompassed. A comparison was held between the clinical data and the different audiological measurements. The size and site of the perforation as well as the technique of tympanoplasty affect postoperative compliance but does not affect postoperative air-bone gap and hearing gain. Compliance should not be taken as an absolute criteria to a corresponding wide air-bone gap unless it is associated with an intratympanic pathology. Absence of stapedial reflex can be associated with normal middle ear function and normal sensory neural function

Thalassaemia major and hearing in Zagazig

Thirty cases of thalassemia major [16 males and 14 females] ranging from four to eighteen years old were audiologically evaluated by pure tone audiomotry and tympanometry after a thorough otorhinolaryngologic and padiatric examination. Pallor was reported in all cases, while hypertophy of the tonsils and adenoids, mongoloid facies and hepatosplenonegaly were detected in 90% of cases. Of the thirty cases [60 ears], only one had a unilateral 40dB loss at 6 KHZ, there was no cause-and-effect relation between regular or irregular receival of iron chelating agents [desferroxamine] and or blood transfusion and the detected auditory abnormality

Humoral immunity vs oropharyngeal flora alterations in children prior to and after adenotonsillectomy

Levels of serum immunoglobulins [IgG, IgA and IgM] were determined in 30 patients with chronic adenotonsillitis by the single radial immunodiffusion technique, prior to and one month after adenotonsillectomy. Twelve normal individuals were included as a control group. Swabs of the posterior oropharyngeal wall, before and a month after the operation, were fully identified bacteriologically by the use of the VITEK systems. The organisms obtained preoperatively were of resident as well as pathogenic flora. One month after adenotonsillectomy, there was a marked drop in the number of patients from whom Streptococcus pyogenes were recovered with the return of the incidence of Streptococcus viridans near the normal level. Streptococcus pneumonia, Staphylococcus aureus and Diphtheroid bacilli, on the other hand, showed no marked change. A significant preoperative high level of serum IgG and IgA was recorded, which postoperatively significantly decreased to near its level in the control group. The postoperative level of IgM showed slight drop, but neither significantly differ from the normal nor from the preoperative level. Thus, preoperative estimation of serum immunoglobulins or simply IgA level as well as a swab from the posterior oropharyngeal wall may be of diagnostic as well as of prognostic value