Disorders Final Flashcards
Where do Retrocochlear Disorders occur?
beyond the cochlea, where the nerve connects to the CANS
What are the most common retrocochlear disorders?
genetic/congential, auditory processing, intracranial neoplasms, trains to the nerve/temporal lobe, strokes, and cans dysfunction
What is a neoplasm?
- “new growth” that abnormally grow from the disordered cell cycle
- grows in the same manner after the stimuli stops, competes with normal cells for nutrition, and grows from the host while the host wastes away
- Purposeless, prey on the host, and almost autonomous
What are Intracranial Neoplasms?
Brain tumors
benign and malignant, meningiomas, and cysts on the parenchyma (brain tissue)
Incidence: 4-12 per 100,000 ppl in the US
What are Neuroglial cells?
- 45% of intracranial tumors are from these cells
- these are the non-excitable cells of the CANS system, are smaller than neurons, don’t have axons, and don’t synapse
- there are way more of them than neurons (10:1), and make up half the volume of the CNS
What are the 4 types of neuroglial cells?
astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, microglia, and ependymal
What are Astrocytes?
Astrocytes: star shaped electrical insulators that provide a barrier at synapses and form the blood-brain barrier (star insulation)
What are Oligodendrocytes?
form the myelin sheath for central nerve fibers (myelin)
What are Microglia?
mall glial cells that inflame and degenerate the CNS, they also ingest/remove residue (trash can)
What are ependymal?
Ependymal: line the CSF cavities, produce CSF, and move CSF (CSF)
what are the tumor classifications?
Benign: slow growth, defined borders, don’t spread, not life-threatening unless they are local to a life-sustaining area of the organ
Malignant: different cell structure, hard to remove, grow and spread easily, life threatening
Intraaxial vs extraaxial tumors
Intra-axial: originates within the brain tissue (ex: astrocytoma)
Extra-axial: originates outside of the brain (ex: pituitary gland, meninges, nerve sheaths)
What are the 4 segments of the temporal bone?
petrous (hardest part that houses inner ear), squamous, tympanic (not fully developed until age 3), and mastoid
What are vascular tumors?
most in the temporal bone are benign, and very hard to tell apart..
2 types - hemangiomas & vascular malformations
What are hemangiomas?
Hemangiomas: mostly due to the malformations of angioplasties fetal tissue (present in 1st month of life)
Initial rapid growth followed by a slow period of decreasing size
what are vasular malformations?
-more common, and always present at birth… although you may not see it
-Grow very fast and don’t ever regress
-In the temporal bone, mostly found in the IAC or ganglion of the 7th cranial nerve (lots of blood in these areas)
what are the signs and symptoms of vascular tumors?
-Present with symptoms in their 30’s
-When it’s involving the 7th nerve: they experience facial weakness or twitches
-Tinnitus, CHL, facial spasms on one side, vertigo, progressive SNHL (if in the IAC) can also occur
how do you diagnose vascular tumors?
- case hx and symptoms help get a CT scan, or an MRI with contrast (very intense on a T2 weighted MRI)
- with the MRI, geniculate lesions on the 7th nerve can be hard to see because of their location, but you can still see intracranial calcification with a CT
What is the differential diagnosis for vascular tumors?
meningiomas (more irregular)
7th nerve schwannomas (less localized, later symptoms, no facial involvement)
cholesteatomas (in the ME cavity)
what is the treatment for vascular tumors?
surgical removal, low levels of reoccurrence
what is a schwannoma?
-most common benign tumor in temporal bone
-in CNS, myelin sheath is formed by oligodendrocytes
-In PNS, myelin sheath is formed by Schwann cells
-Often slow growing, unilateral, and are benign extra-axial tumors
what are the anatomical locations for schwannomas?
- IAC: equally from superior of vestibular division of CN 8 in the medial portion of IAC (rarely in the cochlear division)
- Jugular foramen: CN 9 and 10 superior to the jugular bulb (mistaken for a paraganglioma)
- Fallopian canal: CN 7
what is the incidence of schwannomas?
rare before 30, diagnosis in 6th decade, more common in females
what is the growth pattern for schwannomas?
originated in the IAC most often, grows in the CPA, further spreading in the brain can cause Brainstem compression (large ones can cause hydrocephalus and death)
what are the signs/symptoms for schwannomas?
- occur when tumor is 1-4cm in size
- Phase 1 (otologic): compressing structures in the IAC, causes HL through blood supply or 8th nerve damage. Mostly HL, can also cause false vertigo, headache, tinnitus, and gait problems
- Phase 2 (neurologic): compressing intracranial structures. Sensory face disturbances, facial twitching, nystagmus
In late stage, it can compress the 4th ventricle causing hydrocephalus, coma, and death
what are the pure tone, oae, and speech findings for schwannomas?
Pure tones: unilateral, high freq. SNHL (asymmetrical, positive tone decay)
OAE: usually present if the HL is not too bad, decreased contralateral supports ion
Speech: WRS worse than expected, worse in noise, and positive RI (over 0.45)
what are the tymp & ART findings for schwannomas?
Immittance: Tymp is normal, ART can be absent (not sensitive to an 8th nerve schwannoma)
ART: 8th nerve has absent Ipsilateral and contra on the affected side, Brainstem has abnormal contra and normal Ipsilateral
what are the acoustic reflex decay findings for schwannomas?
Acoustic reflex decay: contralateral decay at 500 and 1000Hz are positive for decay
Hirsh and Anderson classifications:
RD+++ : over 50% decay at both 500 and 1000Hz (retrocochlear sign)
RD++ : over 50% decay at only 1000Hz (questionable)
RD+ : less than 50% decay (not a retro sign)
what are the tone decay & ABR findings for schwannomas?
Tone decay/threshold adaptation: measured in SL above threshold where a tone is heard for 60 seconds (over 30SL is a retrocochlear sign)
Perform on both ears to see comparison, and the more frequencies involved with the decay is more of a retrocochlear sign
ABR: abnormal, increased wave 5 latency, increased interwave latencies, absent wave 5 (compare both ears, +0.3ms ILD between ears is a retrocochlear sign)
ABR won’t match the audiogram, can be absent with normal hearing
how to definitvely diagnose a schwannoma?
t1 weighted MRI with gandolinium contrast is the gold standard! (Look for increased lumen of IAC)
what is the treatment for schwannomas?
Observation: watch and wait for small and slow growing tumors
Stereotactic radiosurgery: reduce size when removal surgery is not an option (ex: elderly or NF2)
Surgery: alleviate risk of intracranial damage, preserve nerve functions
what is a meningioma?
common benign brain tumor in the CNS in adults (very superficial, arriving in the meninges)
Incidence: 2:1 female, later in life appearance
what is the etiology for meningiomas?
uncertain
Associated with NF2 (20% also have NF2)
Head radiation therapy increases risk 4x
Genetics: cell changes/loss of chromosomes can cause it (1, 7, 10, 14)
what is the size of meningiomas?
- relative to location
- Larger in the CPA than the IAC (rarely stays in the IAC though)
- Can mimic the acoustic neuroma (makes diagnosis difficult)
- They are aggressive and locally invasive (can invade cranial nerves and cause calcification)
what are the audiometric signs for meningiomas?
Progressive unilateral SNHL
Vertigo, tinnitus, nausea, 8th CN involvement, abnormal ABR, normal OAE if they have normal hearing
what is the treatment for meningiomas?
Locally destructive: surgical removal, radiation, long term follow up (30% reoccurrence rate)
Small: symptomatic treatment, watch and wait
what is the differential diagnosis for meningiomas?
- Otitis media (red eardrum, CHL, granular tissue formation)
- Paraganglioma (highly vascular, can be a neck mass)
- Facial nerve involvement (facial paralysis)
- Vestibular schwannoma (difficult to differentiate especially if it’s in the IAC)
what are some other benign tumors or the temporal bone?
osteoma, paraganglioma, NF2, facial nerve schwannoma
what is a cortical tumor?
signs and symptoms are on the other side of the tumor!may show all normal peripheral hearing tests (reflexes, OAE, pure tones)
worse WRS and inconsistent, especially in noise!!! evoked potentials: ABR normal (if periphery is WNL) and middle and late evoked responses may be absent
Headaches and dizziness are common
what is a malignant tumor?
often diagnosed at late stages and present a bad diagnosis
symptoms similar to chronic suppurative OME, delays the diagnosis
Audiologically: Aural discharge, otalgia, and hearing loss often seen as well
Neurologically: facial paralysis, headache, SNHL and vestibular deficits
what are some metastatic tumors from sites other than the temporal bone?
breast cancer, lung cancer, leukemia, GI tract tumors, thyroid cancer, and melanoma
what is autoimmunity?
occurs when the body’s immune system attacks itself. The cause is not well understood. Affects 5-8% of the population, MOSTLY WOMEN. Damage can be done to a single organ (thyroid) or an entire system (rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, etc)