Otitis media with effusion in a patient who had previously undergone a stapedectomy.A 55-year-old woman presented with a 6-week history of decreased hearing and a sensation of fullness in her left ear. Her symptoms arose following an upper respiratory tract infection upper respiratory tract infection URI Infectious disease A nonspecific term used to describe acute infections involving the nose, paranasal sinuses, pharynx, and larynx, the prototypic URI is the common cold; flu/influenza is a systemic illness involving the URT . She also reported otalgia otalgia /otal·gia/ (o-tal´jah) pain in the ear; earache. o·tal·gia n. Pain in the ear; earache. o·tal soon alter the onset of a cold 6 weeks earlier. The pain abated following antibiotic therapy, which had been prescribed by her primary care physician. However, the left ear fullness and the diminished hearing persisted. She had no history of vertigo, but she did report intermittent tinnitus. Of note, she said that she had undergone a stapedectomy Stapedectomy Definition Stapedectomy is a surgical procedure in which the innermost bone (stapes) of the three bones (the stapes, the incus, and the malleus) of the middle ear is removed, and replaced with a small plastic tube of stainless-steel wire (a 25 years earlier, and her postoperative hearing was good. On examination, the tympanic membrane was retracted and a straw-colored fluid could be seen behind an intact tympanic membrane (figure). The tympanic membrane was in contact with the long process of the incus, and the wire loop of the stapedectomy prosthesis could be seen through it. Bone conduction was greater than air conduction on a tuning fork test, and Weber's test lateralized to the left. An audiogram au·di·o·gram n. A graphic record of hearing ability for various sound frequencies. Audiogram A chart or graph of the results of a hearing test conducted with audiographic equipment. confirmed these findings. Clinical and audiologic correlates of labyrinthitis Labyrinthitis Definition Labyrinthitis is an inflammation of the inner ear that is often a complication of otitis media. It is caused by the spread of bacterial or viral infections from the head or respiratory tract into the inner ear. were not present. [FIGURE OMITTED] Myringotomy and ventilation tube placement reversed the conductive hearing loss Conductive hearing loss A type of medically treatable hearing loss in which the inner ear is usually normal, but there are specific problems in the middle or outer ears that prevent sound from getting to the inner ear in a normal way. , and the patient remained well during follow-up. From the Division of Otology/Neurotology, the Department of Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. |
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