ENT Flashcards
What is otitis media and who does it commonly affect?
- Infection of the middle ear
- Usually affects children
What are the common causative organisms for acute otitis media?
- Pneumococcus
- Haemophilus influenzae
- Moraxella catarrhalis
- Other strep and staph spp
What are the risk factors for otitis media?
- URTI
- Bottle feeding
- Passive smoking
- Use of dummy
- Presence of adenoids
- Asthma
- Malformation ie cleft palate
- In adults: GORD, ^BMI
What are the clinical features of acute otitis media?
- Rapid onset ear pain
- Fever
- Irritability
- Anorexia
- Vomiting
- Preceding viral URTI - secondary bacterial infection is common
- Hearing loss
- Discharge from ear.
How is otitis media investigated and what are some clinical signs you’d see?
- Otoscopy: bulging tympanic membrane/purulent discharge if ear drum has perforated
- Light reflection moves in otoscopy because of the bulge
Management of acute otitis media?
-Analgesia
-Most resolve in 24hrs with abx
-Decongestants
*consider abx if systemically unwell, immunocomprimised, no improvement >4/7
>Amoxicillin for 5/7
What are the complications of acute otitis media?
-Intracranial: >Meningitis >Intra-cranial abscess >Petrositis >Labyrithitis -Extracranial >Mastoiditis >Facial nerve palsy >Tympanic membrane perforation
What is otitis media with effusion?
-GLUE EAR
>an effusion is present after the regression of the symptoms of acute OM
-Main cause of hearing loss in children
What are the causes/associations of otitis media with effusion in children?
- URTI
- Oversized adenoids
- Narrow nasopharyngeal dimensions
- Bacterial biofilms on adenoids
What is an important cause of OME to exclude in adults?
-Post-nasal space tumour
What are some risk factors for OME?
- Male
- Down’s syndrome
- Cleft palate
- Winter season
- Atopy
- Children of smokers
- Primary ciliary dyskinesia
What are the clinical features of otitis media with effusion?
-Hearing impairment
>Often leads to behavioural/developmental issues
-Can have no ear pain, can go unnoticed for a long time
What investigations need to be performed for OME?
- Otoscopy
- Hearing assessment
- Audiograms (conductive deafness)
- Tympanometry
What signs would be seen on otoscopy for OME?
- Fluid level or bubbles behind the ear drum
- Retracted drum
- Bulging drum
- Dull, grey or yellow drum
How is OME treated?
- Usually mild and resolves spontaneously
- Observe for 3/12 to maximise child’s hearing
- Auto-inflation of Eustachian tube (popping ears)
- Surgery: Grommets
- Hearing aid (if surgery not an option, and bilateral hearing loss)
What advice would you give to parents to help maximise child’s hearing if they have OME?
- Reduce background noise
- Sit at child’s level
- Short, simple instructions
What’s the definition of chronic otitis media?
-Defined as chronic infections plus a perforated tympanic membrane
What are the symptoms of chronic otitis media?
- Hearing loss
- Otorrhoea
- Feeling of fullness in the ear
- Otalgia
What is the treatment for chonic otitis media?
- Topical/systemic abx
- Aural cleaning
- Water precautions
- May require surgery: myringoplasty/mastoidectomy
What are the complications of chronic otitis media?
-Cholesteatoma
What is cholesteatoma and the pathology behind it?
- Abnormal skin growth that develops in the middle ear behind the ear drum
- Develops as a cyst
- Prolonged low middle ear pressure allows development of retraction picket in ear drum which enlarges allowing squamous epithelium to build up and no longer escape the neck of the sack
What are the symptoms of cholesteatoma?
- Foul discharge +/- deafness
- Headache
- Pain
- Facial paralysis
- Vertigo
Treatment for cholesteatoma?
-Mastoid surgery
What are some serious but rare complications of cholesteatoma?
- Meningitis
- Cerebral abscess
- Hearing loss
- Mastoiditis
- Facial nerve dysfunction
What is mastoiditis?
-Infection of the mastoid bone
>often follows ear infection
-Middle ear inflammation leads to destruction of air cells in the mastoid bone +/- abscess formation
What causes mastoiditis?
-Follows otitis media infection
What are the clinical features of mastoiditis?
- Recent URTI
- Ear discharge
- Blunting of postural sulcus
- Fluctuant tender swelling
- Pyrexia
- Ear looks pushed forwards from the front - protruding auricle
- Facial nerve palsy
- Tragal tenderness
- Swelling and redness behind the pinna
Management for mastoiditis?
- Systemic antibiotics (IV - needs admitting)
- Analgesia
- Urgent ENT for ?surgical drainage
What are the complications of mastoiditis?
- Intracranial extension
- Meningitis
What is otitis externa?
-Infection of the outer ear canal
>Swimmer’s ear
-DDx: contact dermatitis
What causes otitis externa?
- Excess canal moisture ie swimming, going on holiday
- Trauma ie itching with fingernails of eczema etc
- High humidity
- Absence of wax from self cleaning
- Narrow ear canal
- Hearing aids
What are common infecting organisms in otitis externa?
- Usually pseudomonas
- Staph. aureus and E.coli
What are some risk factors of otitis externa?
-Eczema/dermatitis
-Frequent swimming
-Cotton buds
-Diabetics/immune suppressed
>at risk of malignant/necrotising otitis externa
What are the symptoms of otitis externa?
- Discharge
- Itch
- Pain
- Tragal tenderness
What investigations would you do on someone with otitis externa?
- Otoscopy
- Swab for microscopy if moderate/severe
What signs may be seen on otoscopy in someone with otitis externa?
- Mild: scaly skin with some erythema, External Auditory Canal normal diameter
- Moderate: painful ear, narrow EAC with smelly, creamy discharge
- Severe: EAC completely occluded
How do you treat mild otitis externa?
- Clear the external auditory canal
- Keep ears free of water during treatment
- Hydrocortisone cream
- ‘Ear calm’ spray: antifungal and antibacterial
How do you treat moderate otitis externa?
-Clear EAC
-Keep ears free from water
-Topical abx: gentamycin
> +/- steroid drops
How do you treat severe otitis externa?
- Clear EAC
- Ears kept free of water during treatment
- Ear wick with aluminium acetate
- ENT referral
- After few days, meatus open up enough for micro suction or careful cleansing
What needs to be done with otitis externa which is resistant to treatment?
Biopsy
>May be at risk of SCC
Why is it important to refer otitis externa to ENT?
- Non-responsive treatment
- Oedematous canal
- Can’t get drops down
- Suspicious of malignant OE
What is malignant OE?
-Necrotising otitis externa
>invasive
-Aggressive, life threatening infection of the external ear
What are some risk factors for necrotising otitis externa?
- Diabetes
- Elderly
- Immunosuppression
What are the most common causative organisms of necrotising otitis externa?
- Most common: pseudomona aeruginosa
- Proteus
- Klebsiella
What are the clincical features of necrotising otitis externa?
- Disproportionately severe pain >opioid dependent pain killers required
- Granulomatous polypoid otitis externa
- CN involvement
What cranial nerves may be involved in necrotising otitis externa?
- CN VII: facial nerve
- CN IX: glossopharyngeal nerve
- CN X: vagus nerve
- CN XI: accessory nerve
- CN XII: hypoglossal nerve
What are some complications of necrotising otitis externa?
- Can lead to temporal bone destruction
- Base of skill osteomyelitis
- Bone infiltration
- Sepsis
- Death
What investigations need to be done for necrotising otitis externa?
- Monitor CRP
- Monitor pain levels
- BM for diabetics
How is necrotising otitis externa treated?
- Admit to hospital
- Topical abx
- Aural toilet
- IV abx: 6/52 (pseudomal cover)
- Opioid analgesia
- Surgical debridement
- Specific immunoglobulins
What is Ramsay-Hunt syndrome?
- aka Herpes zoster oticus
- Herpes zoster infection of the facial nerve
Which group of pts is Ramsay Hunt syndrome common in?
- Elderly
- Immunocompromised
What are the clinical features of Ramsay Hunt syndrome?
- Severe otalgia
- 7th Nerve palsy
- Herpes zoster vesicles (in and around the ear)
- Sometimes: vertigo, tinnitus, deafness
Which other cranial nerves may be sometimes involved in Ramsay Hunt syndrome?
- V
- VI
- VII
- XI
How is Ramsay Hunt syndrome treated?
-Acyclovir and prednisolone
Define furunculosis?
-Very painful abscess arising from a hair follicle within the ear canal
What is the most common causative organism of furunculosis?
-Staph
What is the most common predisposing factor for furunculosis?
-Diabetes mellitus
How is furunculosis managed?
- Consider lancing (cut open to releive abscess)
- Cellulitis of the pinna: oral abx ie flucloxacillin
What is peri-chondrial cellulitis and how is it managed?
- Cellulitis of the pinna of the ear
- Treat with systemic abx: flucloxacillin
What is sub-perichondrial haematoma and who does it commonly affect?
- Blood underneath the pinna of the ear
- Perichondrium lifted and bleeds usually caused by sheer force trauma ie rugby players
How is sub-perichondrial haematoma treated and why is it important to treat?
-Needs draining
>to avoid cauliflower ear
-If left untreated: heamatoma turns to fibrous tissue and doesn’t break down properly
How do you attempt to removea foreign body from ear?
- Ask for help if not sure
- Syrginge with warm water
- If living object: drown in olive oil/water -> syringe
What are some causes of referred ear pain?
- Dental disease
- Ramsay Hunt syndrome: sensory branch of facial nerve
- Primary glossopharyngeal neuralgia: CN9, induced by talking/swallowing
- Throat/laryngeal cancer: CN9/10
- Tonsilitis or quinsy: CN 9/10
- Post tonsillectomy
- Cervical spondylosis/arthritis or soft tissue injury of the neck: CN 2/3
What is conductive deafness?
-Deafness which is caused by anything which may obstruct the sound entering the ear
What is the most common cause of conductive deafness in children?
-Otitis media with effusion
What is the most common cause of conductive deafness in adults?
-Otosclerosis (ossicles of the ear becoming spongy with age)
What are some genetic causes of conductive deafness?
- Congenital structural abnormalities on the pinna, external ear canal, ear drum, ossicles
- Treacher-Collins syndrome
- Pierre Robin syndrome
- Goldenhar syndrome
What investigations are performed for conductive deafness?
- Neonatal hearing tests within 1st few weeks of life > otoacoustic emissions test
- Subjective hearing tests in older children ie distraction testing
- Adults: audiometry
How is conductive deafness managed?
- Children with glue ear: grommets
- Watch and wait: conductive problem may self resolve
- Mild otosclerosis: hearing aid
- Moderate to severe otosclerosis: surgery
What is a stapdectomy procedure and what is it used to treat?
- A prosthetic device inserted into a middle ear to bypass the abdormal bone and permited sound waves to travel into the inner ear
- Used for moderate-severe otosclerosis
What is sensorineural deafness?
-hearing loss associated with damage or abnormality to the vestibulocochlear nerve
Name some causes of bilateral sensorineural hearnig loss
- Drug use: ototoxic abx, chemo
- Infection: measles, meningitis, mumps
- Noise exposure
- Head trauma
Name some unilateral causes of sensoirneural hearing loss
-Meniere’s disease
-Acoustic neuroma/vestibular schwannoma
>require MRI
Name some causes of sudden sensorineural hearing loss?
- Trauma
- Viral infections
Name some genetic causes of sensorineural hearing loss
- AD: Waardenburg syndrome
- AR: Pendred syndrome
- X lined: Alport syndrome, Turner’s syndrome
Name some non-genetic causes of sensorineural hearing loss
- Intrauterine TORCH infections
- Perinatal causes
- Infections
- Ototoxic drugs
- Acoustic or cranial trauma
What are the different TORCH infections?
- Toxoplasmosis
- Other (syphilis, HIV)
- Rubella
- CMV
- Herpes
What are the perinatal causes of sensorinerual hearing loss?
- Prematurity
- Hypoxia
- IVH
- Kernicterus
- Infection
What are the infective causes of sensorineural hearing loss?
- Meningitis
- Encephalitis
- Measles
- Mumps
How is sensorinerual deafness treated?
- Hearing aids
- Cochlear implants (usually before 1)
Define tinnitus?
-Perception of sound in the absence of auditory stimulation
How can the character of tinnitus help identify the cause?
- Unilateral
- Bilateral
- Pulsatile
- Non-pulsatile
- Ringing, hissing, buzzing (inner ear or central cause)
- Popping or clicking (external ear, middle ear or palate
What is the difference between objective and subjective tinnitus?
- Objective: audible to examiner
- Subjective: audible only to pt
What are the causes of objective tinnitus?
- Vascular disorders (AV malformations, carotid pathology)
- High output cardiac states (Pagets, hyperthyroidism, anaemia)
- Myoclonus or palatal or strapedius/tensor tympanic muscles
- Patulous Eustacian tube
What are the causes of subjective tinnitus?
-Commonly associated with disorders that cause SNHL
>Presbyacusis (age-related hearing loss)
>Noise induced hearing loss
>Meniere’s disease
-Ototoxic drugs (cause bilateral tinnitus with associated hearing loss)
>cisplatin, aminoglycosides
>aspirin, NSAIDs, quinine, macrolides, loop diuretics
What investigations should be performed for tinnitus?
- Audiometry
- Tympanogram
- Investigate unilateral tinnitus to exclude acoustic neuroma - MRI
How is tinnitus managed?
- Treat underlying cause
- Take time to explain tinnitus
- Psych support
What is acoustic neuroma?
- Histological benign subarachnoid tumour
- Causes problems by local pressure
- Arise from superior vestibular Schwanna cell layer
Which age group is affected by acoustic neuroma?
Adults aged 30-60
What cause acoustic neuroma?
- Though to be malfunctioning gene on chromosome 22
- Normally this gene produces a tumour suppressor protein that helps control the growth of Schwann cells covering the nerves
Name a risk factor for acoustic neuroma
-Neurofibromatosis type 2
What are the clinical features of acoustic neuroma?
-Progressive ipsilateral tinnitus
>+/- sensorinueral deafness (cochlear nerve compression)
-Large tumours may have ipsilateral cerebella signs or signs of raised ICP
-Giddiness common
-Numb face (trigeminal compression above the tumour)
What investigations should be done for suspected acoustic neuroma?
-MRI for unilateral hearing loss/tinnitus
How is acoustic neuroma managed?
- Leave alone and monitor yearly (slow growing)
- Scan sooner if symptoms getting worse
- Surgery if necc. but not normally
- Stereotactic radiosurgery
Risk factors for noise induced hearing loss?
- Occupations with loud noises: builder, carpenter, armed forces
- Repeated loud noise exposure ie DJs
Explain the process of noise induced hearing loss
- Exposure to loud noise will cause damage to inner ear
- One-time exposure to an intense sound
- More commonly occupational: continuous exposure to loud sounds causes hearing loss
What are the clinical features of noise-induced hearing loss?
- Bilateral symmetrical sensorineural hearing loss
- +/- tinnitus
How is noise-induced hearing loss managed?
- Reduce risk of occupational exposure
- Hearing aids
Define vertigo
-Sensation that the person or the world around them is moving or spinning
What is vestibular vertigo?
-Most common kind of vertigo >severe >may be accompanied by loss of balance >Nausea >Vomiting >Decreased hearing >Tinnitus >Nystagmus (horizontal) >Diaphoresis (massive sweating)
What is central vertigo?
- Hearing loss and tinnitus is less common with vertigo symptoms
- Nystagmus can be horizontal or vertical
What are some causes of peripheral (vestibular) vertigo?-
- Meniere’s disease
- BPPV
- Vestibular failure
- Labrinthitis
- Superior semi-circular canal dehiscence (rupture)
What are some causes of ventral vertigo?
- Acoustic neuroma
- MS
- Head injury
- Migraine associated dizziness
- Vertobrobasilar insufficiency
If vertigo symptoms last seconds to minutes, what’s the most likely cause?
-BPPV
If vertigo symptoms last 30mins-30hrs, what’s the most likely cause?
- Meniere’s
- Migraine
If vertigo symptoms last 30hrs-tweeks, what’s the most likely cause?
-Acute vestibular failure
What is an important question to ask when someone reports dizziness?
- Did the world seem to spin like getting off a playground roundabout?
- Which direction are you spinning in? (people with vertigo always know which way, if no idea: further investigation required)
What symptoms could point towards another diagnosis?
-Light headedness +/- sense of collapse
>can be vascular, ocular, MSK, metabolic, claustrophobic
What examination should be done for someone with vertigo?
- CNS exam and ears
- Cerebellar function and reflexes
- Assess: nystagmus, gait, Romberg’s test
- Audiometry and MRI if unsure
How is Romberg’s test useful in vertigo?
-+ve if balance is worse when eyes are shut
>defective proprioception or vestibular input
Which specific provocation test can be used to diagnose BPPV?
-Dix-Hallpike maoeuvre
How is vertigo treated?
-Treat underlying cause
What is BPPV?
-Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (most common type of peripheral vertigo)
What causes BPPV?
-Displacement of otoliths stimulating the semi-circular canals
>can be idiopathic or post head injury