Thermal reduction of hypertrophied inferior turbinate

Inferior turbinate hypertrophy is one of the commonest causes of nasal obstruction. It can be mucosal or bony hypertrophy. It is seen in patients suffering from vasomotor and allergic rhinitis. To evaluate the effectiveness and complications of diode laser reduction of hypertrophied inferior turbinate in comparison with reduction by submucosal diathermy using electrocoagulation. Forty patients who complained from inferior turbinate hypertrophy were included in our study. Reduction of the hypertrophied turbinate by diode laser and submucosal diathermy was done. The patients were followed up for twelve months. The results from both procedures was analyzed and compared. Sixty percent of our patients were males and forty percent were females. One month after the operation, relief of nasal obstruction was [85%] in laser reduction and [75%] in submucosal diathermy. Six months after the operation the results were [90%] for laser reduction and [85%] for submucosal diathermy, while at the end of the twelve months the results were [85%] for laser reduction and [75%] for submucosal diathermy. One month after the operation no edema or crust could be seen in laser reduction. While in submucosal diathermy oedema were seen one month after the operation and crustation continued till the third month. Laser reduction of inferior turbinate hypertrophy as a long term results is not significantly superior to submucosal diathermy in terms of relief of airway obstruction but it is associated with less complications

Sensorineural hearing loss in patients with diabetes mellitus

The aim of this study was to find cause effect relationship between diabetes and sensorineural hearing loss. Hearing threshold of 70 diabetic patients and 70 healthy controls were determined using pure tone audiometry at Al Yarmouk Teaching hospital. Their ages ranged between [9-45] years old. The patients were categorized into groups according to their age, the duration of disease, complications, control and type of diabetes. These observations were compared with those from the control subjects using appropriate statistical methods. The results of the study revealed that mean hearing threshold was worse in diabetic patients than control subjects. All age groups with diabetes showed significant low and high frequency hearing loss as compared to those who were well controlled. The threshold was worse in complicated diabetics than in non complicated diabetics. Diabetics with longer duration shows worse threshold than others. However, threshold was better in patients with good control of diabetes and there were no differences in threshold between insulin and non insulin dependent diabetes. It was found that diabetics had a poorer hearing threshold which was seen in all age groups, and there was a relationship between the duration, control and complications of diabetes and the level of hearing loss. No significant difference in hearing loss was found between insulin-dependent and non-insulin dependent diabetics

Evaluation of tracheal narrowing post tracheostomy by plain X-ray

The objective of this work is to recognize the incidence and severity of narrowing of the trachea in the head and neck surgical patients who had undergone tracheostomy by doing lateral cervical X-ray. This is a prospective study of 24 adult patients with consecutive tracheostomies conducted in the period from January 2008 to January 2009 in E.N.T Department, Al- Yarmouk Teaching Hospital. Twenty of them [83.3%] had emergency tracheostomy and 4 of them [16.6%] had elective tracheostomy. Analysis was performed with respect to age, sex, time of decannulation, symptoms and the type of operation whether emergency or an elective procedure. The diagnosis of tracheal narrowing after decannulation depends on lateral soft tissue X-ray of the neck. Diameter of the trachea above the stoma [around 2 cm below the cricoid ring that can be clearly seen in lateral X-ray] was taken as control. The study revealed that 83.3% of patients developed narrowing of the trachea post-tracheostomy, however, all the narrowing cases was less than 50%. Very early decannulation of tracheostomy tube showed minimum or no narrowing at all. There is gradual narrowing in patients in whom decannulation were performed after 2 weeks. Male patients had earlier decannulation time compared to female patients. Tracheostomy as live saving procedure results in minimum asymptomatic tracheal stenosis