Ear Pathologies, Malformations and Disorders Flashcards
Cerumen
- earwax
- More common in the elderly
- mostly men
- outer ear
Stenosis
- Very narrow ear canal, making it easy for wax to get trapped
- Common in those with Autism
- outer ear
Acute External Otitis
- swimmers ear
- any stagnated water source which causes inflammation
- very painful
- outer ear
Carcinoma
- basal cell
- squamous cell
- melanoma
- outer ear
Trauma (outer ear)
- Frost bite, sports, piercings, etc.
- outer ear
Periochondritis
- blood infection
- red, swelling, hot, tender outer ear that can lead to serious complications
- outer ear
Atresia (malformation)
- Little or no ear formation, no ear canal
- can be unilateral or bilateral
- often syndromic
- ex: Treacher-Collins
- outer ear
Microtia (malformation)
- very small ear canal, may or may not be open
- unilateral or bilateral
- outer ear
Cysts/Pits/Tags (malformation)
- congenital and representative of an error in ear formation
- can sometimes weep fluid from the inner ear and become easily infected
- outer ear
Cyst:
Small growth or bump
Pit:
-tiny hole that can go all the back into the inner ear
Tags:
extra bits of skin
Otitis Media:
- ear infection
- middle ear
- serous, mucoid or suppurative
Tympanic perforation:
- middle ear
- foreign object
- blow to the head
- barotrauma (scuba diving)
- otitis media
Cholesteatoma:
- middle ear
- benign growth filled with skin cells/debris
- occurs in flaccid part of the eardrum behind mastoid bone
Mastoiditis:
- middle ear
- infectious invasion of the porous mastoid bone
Otosclerosis:
- middle ear
- fixation of the ossicular chain
- fixation of the stapes (ankylosis)
- Genetic disorder that appears in the mid 40’s mostly in women
- can be replaced by a metal rod
Malleus fixation:
- middle ear
- loss of sound transmission
- genetic or chronic infectious ear
Ossicular discontinuity:
- middle ear
- trauma to the tympanic membrane
- head trauma
- can be fixed with a metal rod
Eustachian tube dysfunction:
- middle ear
- due to allergies, asthma, respiratory disorders
- very common in eskimo population due to head shape
- enlarged adenoids
- changes in air pressure
- more genetic
Glomus Tumor:
- middle ear
- Benign growth
- very slow growing
- can disrupt the ossicular chain
- surgical removal
- usually in adults
Vestibular Schwannoma:
- inner ear
- usually a unilateral slow growing tumor on the VIII nerve, benign
- very poor speech discrimination compared to thresholds
- full feeling in the ear
Neurofibromatosis:
- inner ear
- NF1 rarely involves the ear
- NF2 faster growing acoustic tumors (bilateral)
- cochlear neuritis
- sudden onset of hearing loss
- removal can cause damage to VIII nerve resulting in complete deafness
- usually very large
Noise induced hearing loss:
- inner ear disorder
- repeated exposure = progressive loss
- single episode of exposure greater than 140dB HL causes deafness
- classic “noise notch” in hearing test aka carthart notch
Presbycusis:
- inner ear disorder
- aging of the ear
- can involve degradation of cochlear structures
- poor speech recognition
Trauma (inner ear)
- inner ear disorders
- longitudinal fracture involving outer/middle ear systems (repairable)
- transverse fractures involved inner ear systems (non-repairable)
Ototoxicity:
- inner ear disorder
- loss due to exposure of a certain drug
- can cause hearing loss in all ages
- “mycin” drugs: aminoglycosides
- anti-inflammatory drugs
- chemotherapy
- Quinine (malaria)
Multiple Sclerosis:
- central pathology
- Demylenization of nerves which depletes fatty sheath from protecting nerves
- the body attacks the myelin
- plaque adhesions to the brainstem
Disrupted Blood Supplies:
- central pathology
- TIA’s very small stroke (transient ischemic attacks)
- Arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries)
- Aneurysm (burst blood vessel)
Hereditary Motor Sensory Neuropathies (HMSN):
- central pathology
- charcot-marie-tooth
- Friedrich’s Ataxia
Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder:
-you can have a normal cochlea and an abnormal VIII nerve
-wide range of audiometric results
-many causes
-often misdiagnosed as central auditory processing disorder
-triage audiological test
(acoustic reflex testing, OAE, ABR)
Mondini Malformation (Dyplasia):
- cochlea malformation
- cochlea only has 1 1/2 turns
- est. to occur at 7 weeks gestation
EVA:
- enlarged vestibular aqueduct
- cochlear malformation
- can be congenital or acquired in first three years
- associated with Pendred Syndrome
- est. 5-10% of pediatric patients
- trauma can cause complete hearing loss
