The Efficacy of Endoscopic Exploratory Tympanotomy in Conductive Hearing Loss Patients / 대한이비인후과학회지

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of the endoscopic exclusive transcanalar approach for the management of conductive hearing loss. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: This was a retrospective comparative study of 106 patients who underwent exploratory tympanotomy at Chonnam National University Hospital from January 2008 to March 2016. The subjects were classified into two groups; endoscopic tympanotomy (ET, n=26) and microscopic tympanotomy (MT, n=80). Demographic data, operation time, postoperative admission days, pure tone audiometric results of pre-operation and post-operation at 3 months, and hearing success rate were evaluated. RESULTS: The mean operation time of MT (101.7±24.8 minutes) was longer than that of ET (59.8±23.2 minutes) with a statistical significance (p<0.01). The mean postoperative admission days of MT (4.4±1.3) was longer than that of ET (2.0±0.6) with a statistical significance (p<0.01). Hearing gain (air-conduction) and air-bone gap improvements were not significantly different between the groups. However, the hearing success rate of ET [partial ossicular replacement prosthesis (PORP) 85.7%, total ossicular replacement prosthesis (TORP) 81.8%] was significantly improved enormously compared to that of MT (PORP 62.9%, TORP 64.3%). CONCLUSION: With regards to conductive hearing loss, the endoscopic approach provided a better surgical view and less invasiveness compared with the microscopic approach. In conclusion, endoscopic exploratory tympanotomy had several advantages in operation time, admission days and hearing success rate.

A Case of Cochlear Implantation Targeting Preserved Cerebral Cortex in Severe Traumatic Brain Injury

Temporal bone fracture and blunt head trauma was once considered as contraindication for the surgery. Increasing numbers of successful cochlear implantation are being reported. However, the outcome of cochlear implantation in severe damaged brain is unclear. A multichannel cochlear implant was successfully implanted in a 33-year-old man who had both sensorineural deafness, left hemiplegia due to bilateral transverse temporal bone fractures and severe right brain damage after a traffic accident.

Six Cases of Nasal Cavity and Nasopharyngeal Tuberculosis / 대한이비인후과학회지

Tuberculosis of the nasal cavity and nasopharynx is extremely rare. The diagnosis is frequently delayed because of unfamiliarity with the disease. It is difficult to make an accurate diagnosis of tuberculosis of the nasal cavity and nasopharynx on imaging findings alone; a biopsy is required to confirm the diagnosis and to differentiate it from malignancy and the other conditions. The authors have experienced 6 cases of tuberculosis of the nasal cavity and nasopharyx. We report them with review of literatures.