Conditions Of The Ear Flashcards
What conditions can affect the pinna?
- Perichondritis
- Ramsay Hunt Syndrome
- Cauliflower ear
- Pinna Haematoma
Presentation of Ramsay Hunt Syndrome
Facial nerve palsy
Painful red ear with vesicles
What is a pinna haematoma?
Accumulation of blood between cartilage and overlying perichondrium
What is a pinna haematoma due to?
Blunt trauma
eg. Contact sport
What happens to an untreated pinna haematoma?
- cartilage is deprived of blood + pressure necrosis
- fibrosis of cartilage > new asymmetrical cartilage development (cauliflower ear)
- hearing not impaired but cosmetic implications
Treatment of pinna haematoma
- Drainage + aspirate
- Prevent re-accumulation using a dressing between the two layers
What conditions affect the external auditory meatus?
- acute otitis externa
- necrotising otitis externa
What is acute otitis externa?
Inflammation of external acoustic meatus usually due to infection (staph aureus or pseudomonas aeruginosa)
What organism normally causes otitis externa?
staphylococcus aureus
pseudomonas aeruginosa
Presentation of acute otitis externa
Otalgia
Custard like discharge
+/- hearing loss
Risk factors of acute otitis externa
- injury to EAM e.g. scratch from itching
- swimming
- warm weather
- skin problems e.g. eczema
Treatment of acute otitis externa
Ear drops
(Topical antibiotics +/- steroids)
Presentation of necrotising otitis externa
- severe otalgia (may keep them up at night)
- purulent discharge
- non resolving acute otitis externa
- hearing loss
- CN involvement
What is the main organism that causes necrotising otitis externa?
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Risk factors of necrotising otitis externa
- male
- diabetic
- immunocompromised
- > 65 years old
What is necrotising otitis externa?
- complication of otitis externa
- infection spreads deeper > osteomyelitis of temporal bone + skull base
Treatment of necrotising otitis externa
- IV antibiotics
- Analgesia
- Discharged with oral antibiotics (+ topical drops)
What is the best imagining if suspecting necrotising otitis externa?
CT of temporal bone
Why are middle ear infections more common in children?
Shorter, more horizontal pharyngotympanic tube
Conditions affecting the middle ear
Acute otitis media (+/- effusion)
Mastoiditis
Cholesteatoma
What is acute otitis media?
Middle ear infection
Presentation of acute otitis media
- infants
- otalgia (child pulling ear as can’t communicate)
- fever
- red +/- bulging tympanic membrane
Treatment of acute otitis media
- most will resolve in 3-7 days
- analgesia e.g. calpol, paracetamol
- back up antibiotic prescription if doesn’t self resolve - amoxicillin
Complications of acute otitis media
- tympanic membrane perforation
- facial nerve involvement
- mastoiditis
- intracranial complications e.g. meningitis, sigmoid sinus thrombosis, brain abscess
Presentation of mastoiditis
- sharp angle behind hear lost (boggy oedema)
- pinna pushed down and forward
- unwell + fever
- signs + symptoms of acute otitis media
How can infection spread from the middle ear to the mastoid bone?
Middle ear > mastoid antrum > mastoid air cell (mastoid bone)