ABSTRACT
Background: Neurologic disorders are not rare in our environment but studies determining the hearing of these children are almost non- existent. This study therefore is to determine the prevalence of hearing loss in these children and also determine the care seeking attitude of the parents/guardians concerning the hearing.Methods: A hospital based descriptive study of all children attending the children neurologic clinic of university of Port Harcourt teaching hospital. A semi structured questionnaire was administered to parents / guardians who gave their consent for their children to be recruited into the study. Hearing loss in the children was taken as reported by the parents/guardians. Data collected were then entered into Microsoft Excel and then exported to the IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 for statistical analysis.Results: The study comprised 49 children; 29 males and 20 females. Age range was from 8months to 18years. Age group 1-5 years comprised the majority of the study population. Commonest neurological disorder seen was childhood epilepsy n=27, 55.1%. Prevalence of hearing loss was 26.5%. Children with childhood epilepsy had 15.4% having hearing loss while children with cerebral palsy, autistic spectrum disorder and microcephaly had 50% hearing loss recorded. Maternal illness during pregnancy was significantly related to the hearing loss with a p value = 0.045 and presence of neonatal illness with p value =0.009. Only 7.7% was formally treated while 92.3% had no form of treatment whatsoever.Conclusions: Childhood epilepsy was the commonest type of neurologic disorder seen while highest point prevalence for hearing loss was in cerebral palsy. Majority of parents/caregivers did not seek medical care concerning the hearing loss neither were there any form of treatment given to the children.
ABSTRACT
Background:Bleeding from the nose is one of the commonest emergencies that could present in a typical ear, nose and throat clinic. It is often a frightful experience for both the patient and relations, especially in severe cases.Aim:To determine the aetiological profile, the managementand outcome in patients that presented with epistaxis in University of Port Harcourt teaching hospital. Patients and Methods:This was a retrospective study of patients with complaints of epistaxis that were managed within the period of January 2006 to January 2018 in the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) department, including referrals from the accident & emergency department and children emergency ward. Data on demographics, aetiology, associated clinical features, treatment modalities and outcome of such treatments were all collated. These were analyzed using IBM statistical package for social sciences SPSSversion 20and results presented in simple descriptive tables.Results: There were altogether 196 patients studied, 95 males and 101 females, giving a male to female ratio of 1:1.06. The age range was from 1 to 81 years. Age group 30-39 was the most affected with 22.29% Aetiologicalfactors were; hypertension in 9.2% trauma in 11.2%, idiopathic in most; 58.2%, chronic rhinosinusitis in 18.4%. Conservative medical therapy was the commonest treatment modality; 68.38%. Anterior nasal packing in 26.5% while 4.1% had posterior packing. Anterior aspect of the nose was the commonest site of bleed recorded in 160 cases.All the patients had a favourable outcome.Conclusion: Epistaxis in this environment still presents as a common emergency and in the majority of the case, the cause is not known, however, trauma appears to be one of the commonest cause implicated in our setting. The young adults appear to be the ones mainly affected
ABSTRACT
Background: Management of aerodigestive emergencies can prove a challenge especially in this sub-Saharan region where there is a dearth of specialized equipment. In some areas, a plain radiograph may be the only investigative tool readily available to the surgeon. It is routinely done in most of these cases. In our environment health care is often financed by the patients throughout of pocket expenses since most do not have health insurance. Affordability ofa particular treatment becomes paramount. This study, therefore, is aimed at assessing the use of lateral soft tissue neck X-ray and its reliability as a diagnostic tool in aerodigestive emergencies. Objective: To determine the relevance or effectivenessof plain radiograph of the lateral soft tissue neck in patients with upper aerodigestive emergencies and therefore its use as a tool to the otorhinolaryngology (ORL) surgeon as the first-line investigation in these patients Patients and Methods: It is a prospective study of all patients that presented to the ENT surgery department of UPTH from April 2018 to April 2019 with upper aerodigestive emergencies. Patients who presented in the ENT clinic, accident and emergency department, children`s emergency wards and the clinics with upper aerodigestive emergencies were recruited in this study.All the patients had X-ray lateral soft tissue of the neck done on presentation and the results were then compared with the final operative findings in the operation theatre. Some patients had also chest radiograph done however; the diagnosis was done based on the lateral soft tissue neck finding. Patients that had radiologic investigation other than radiograph of the lateral soft tissue neck as the main investigative toolwere excluded from the study. The radiologist opinion was obtained for all the radiographs as a routine. The results were analyzed using the SPSS 20 and presented in simple statistical tables.Results: Sixteen patients were studied. Males were 14(87.5%) while females were 2(12.5%). Age range was from 1.5 to 77 years with children comprising only 31.25% of the study population. The commonest presenting complaint was voice change 68.75%. Positive findings on the x-ray neck were seen as soft signs in 62.5% and radio-opacity in 18.75%. In n=14(87.5%) the lateral neck x-ray positive findings were corroborated by the operative findings. The tool has a specificity of 100% for both foreign body inhalation/ingestion and laryngeal tumour but the sensitivity of 80% inlaryngeal tumours but 100% for the foreign body.Conclusion:Study concludes that lateral soft tissue neck x-ray was found to be a good and useful tool in the diagnosis of a good number of upper aerodigestive emergencies such as foreign body ingestion/inhalation and patients with upper airway obstruction caused by laryngeal tumours and some infective conditions such as a retropharyngeal abscess