Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease Mimicking Bilateral Ménière's Disease: A Case Report / 대한평형의학회지

Autoimmune inner ear disease (AIED) is a rare disease, accounting for < 1% of all cases of hearing impairment or dizziness. It is characterized by sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) or vestibular dysfunction that results from an immunemediated process. Clinical features of AIED is SNHL that progresses over weeks to month with fluctuating hearing symptoms. Because there are no diagnostic laboratory and clinical feature, response to immunosuppressive therapy were important for diagnosis of AIED. Many diseases such as sudden SNHL and Meniere disease may also mimic AIED, a broad differential must be maintained in patients suspected of having AIED. We report a case of a 46-year-old female who presented with sudden hearing loss and vertigo. We could diagnose her as AIED with systemic lupus erythematous. The symptoms were improved treated with steroids.

Causes of False Negative Bedside Head Impulse Test / 대한이비인후과학회지

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The bedside head impulse test (bHIT) in bare eyes often overlooks possible vestibular losses by missing the corrective saccade. This is why it is necessary to compare bHIT against video head impulse test (vHIT), which is more accurate in identifying vestibular losses than the bedside test. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: A total of 51 vHIT positive ears underwent the study, and out of those, 47 were diagnosed with dizziness. bHIT and vHIT were performed for patients, and the occurrence rate of overt saccade (OS) was calculated. RESULTS: Among the 51 vHIT positive ears, 33 (64.7%) were bHIT positive ears and 18 ears (35.3%) were bHIT negative. Patterns of positive vHIT were classified as A: no corrective saccade, B: covert saccade (CS) only, C: OS only, and D: CS with OS (CS+OS), which were 45 out of 51 ears (88%). The occurrence rate of OS was higher in the bHIT positive group than in the bHIT negative group (p=0.05), and higher in the CS negative group (CS-) than in the CS positive group (CS+) (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Possible causes of false negative results of bHIT are seen as following: the absence of corrective (covert and overt) saccade, the occurrence of CS only, and missing the OS during the bHIT (probably due to low occurrence rate of OS). The occurrence of CS should be considered as an important factor in false negative bHIT when lowering the occurrence rate of OS.

Cold Dry Air Provocation and Immunoglobulin E in Nasal Fluid for Diagnosing Nonspecific Hyper-Reactivity / 대한이비인후과학회지

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: We aimed to evaluate the usefulness of cold dry air (CDA) provocation test in patients with non-allergic or allergic rhinitis. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Twenty-one patients (13 males and 8 females, mean age 36.9±17.6 years) with symptoms of rhinitis were enrolled. We classified patients into groups A (control group, n=9) and B (allergic group, n=12) according to their skin prick test results. Before and after CDA provocation (0℃, relative humidity<10%, total 400 liters during 6 minutes), we evaluated changes in nasal symptoms. We collected serum, and nasal fluid before and after CDA provocation using the filter paper method. We measured serum and nasal fluid IgE levels, compared them between the groups, and evaluated the correlation between serum and nasal fluid IgE. RESULTS: After the CDA provocation, group B had more aggravation of symptoms than group A, with a statistical significance (for nasal obstruction, group A: 3.0±2.4, group B: 5.8±3.4, p=0.049; for itching, group A: 1.0±1.6, group B: 3.8±3.4, p=0.045). The level of serum total IgE was significantly higher in group B (group A: 152.7±67.3 ng/mL, group B: 612.1±291.4 ng/mL, p=0.001). The titer of nasal fluid IgE was higher in group B, before and after the CDA challenge (before CDA, group A: 91.7±52.6 ng/mL, group B: 810.0±1042.3 ng/mL, p=0.029, after CDA, group A: 55.8±43.8 ng/mL, group B: 354.9±236.7 ng/mL, p=0.003). There was a significant correlation between the serum IgE and nasal fluid IgE levels after the CDA provocation test (R2=0.749, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: The CDA provocation test and measurement of nasal fluid IgE level could be useful for the evaluation of nonspecific hyper-reactivity.

A Case of Migrated of Foreign Body Induced Thyroid Abscess / 대한이비인후과학회지

Foreign bodies in the laryngopharynx and esophagus are common diagnoses in the clinic of otolaryngology department. There are various types of foreign bodies in the laryngopharynx and esophagus depending on environmental and individual features. Fish bones are the most common type of foreign body in the laryngopharynx and esophagus in Korea. Most of them can be found on inspection or by using a laryngoscope and removed easily. Although foreign bodies are rarely known to migrate from the laryngopharynx and esophagus to the thyroid gland for abscess formation, physicians must be cautious as sometimes they can migrate to other tissues. We describe a case of 53-year-old women with thyroid gland abscess formation due to migrated foreign bodies she had swallowed.

Updates in Intractable Benign Paroxysmal Positioning Vertigo / 대한평형의학회지

Benign paroxysmal positioning vertigo (BPPV) is the most common disease that causes dizziness which is usually resolved spontaneously or by office-based physical therapy. However, clinicians sometimes encounter atypical or intractable BPPV cases which show poor effect with physical therapy including canalith reposition therapy and liberative maneuvers and frequent recurrence. There is no common definition, diagnosis and treatment protocols for intractable BPPV. Various types of intractable BPPV and reported treatment methods are discussed in this review.