Surgery Flashcards
Define cholesteatoma.
An epidermoid cyst within the middle ear
Define myringotomy.
Making a hole in a membrane, like the tympanic membrane
Define neuropraxia.
Injury to a peripheral nerve
How is the structure of the ear all connected?
- EEC is made up of vertical and horizontal canals
- EEC is connected to ME via EAM, which is where ear drum sits
- ME is where the bulla and ossicles (tiny bones that conduct sound waves from EEC)
- ME connected to pharynx via auditory tube
- ME is connected to IE which sound waves connect to cochlea via cochlea window
- Another window in the IE called vestibular window that connects to vestibular apparatus
- IE connected to the brain via cochlea and vestibular nerves
What are the causes and site of autoimmune ear diseases?
Allergic skin disease
Discoid lupus erythematosus
Pemphigus
External ear canal, pinna
What are the primary anatomical causes of ear diseases?
Congenital ear canal stenosis
Pendulous ears
Hair ear canals
What are the secondary anatomical causes of ear diseases?
Secondary ear canal stenosis
Cauliflower ear
Other traumatic deformity
What are the sites of anatomical ear diseases?
Pinna – post injury. Puncture/laceration/aural haematoma
External ear canal – commonly secondary changes due to scarring with chronic otitis externa, which is usually due to underlying allergic skin disease
What are the neoplastic causes of ear disease?
Benign – ceruminous gland adenomas, papillomas, inflammatory polyps
Malignant – squamous cell carcinoma, ceruminous gland adenocarcinoma
What are the sites of neoplasia causing ear disease?
Pinna, external ear canal, middle ear, inner ear, para-aural
What are the infectious causes of ear disease?
Bacterial – staphylococcus, streptococcus, pseudomonas
Parasitic – mites (otodectes, demodex, sarcoptes, harvest mites)
Fungal – Malassezia, ringworm
What are the causes and sites of inflammatory ear disease?
Cholesteatoma
Foreign bodies
Inflammatory polyps
Solar dermatitis
Viral (distemper)
Pinna, external ear canal, middle ear, inner ear, para-aural
What are the causes and sites of traumatic ear disease?
Self-inflicted secondary to pruritic
Surgical
Accident
Fighting
Pinna, external ear canal
What is ear canal avulsion and what is the consequence of this?
Separation between the auricular and annular cartilage or at the level of the external acoustic meatus. Fluid, cerumen and debris will accumulate in the proximal portion of the ear canal. Likely to become infected causing a para-aural abscess.
Where are inflammatory polyps found?
Auditory tube, external ear canal, middle ear, nasopharynx
What are the possible causes of aural haematomas?
Trauma
Immune-mediated or coagulopathy
What are the clinical signs of aural haematomas?
Head shaking
Ear scratching
With/without underlying dermatopathy
With/without trauma
Pain
Swollen pinna
Reason for pruritus
What factors may determine whether an aural haematoma is medically or surgically treated?
- Haematoma size and how long has it been there
- Patient co-morbidities
- Patient temperament
- Owner finances
- Owner practicalities
- Surgeon preference
- Cosmetic appearance
How are aural haematomas surgically treated?
- Skin incision – position and length depends on where on the pinna the haematoma is
- Evacuate – flush with saline to remove fibrinous material that will prevent the medial skin and cartilage coming into close apposition
- Bring incision edges together – the medial skin will be stretched so there will be excess skin. So start right by/close to your incision and work laterally or you will end up with a raised bit of skin in the middle.
- Sutures to close dead space
Where is a lateral wall resection done?
Disease isolated to vertical ear canal’s lateral wall
How is a lateral wall resection done?
- Surgical preparation
- Incision - U shaped over later ear canal, with U ventral to level of horizontal canal
- Expose lateral wall of vertical canal
- 2 parallel cartilage incisions
- Remove excess cartilage and its overlying skin to leave a 2-3cm drainage board, ventral to the opening to the horizontal canal. Board must not obstruct the opening
- Close
Where is a vertical ear canal ablation done?
Disease isolated to vertical ear canal. Taking both lateral and medial wall of the ear canal and leaving the horizontal behind.
How is a vertical ear canal ablation done?
- Surgical preparation
- Skin incision – T-shaped incisions that extends below level of horizontal canal
- Expose the vertical canal
- 2 cartilage incisions to create a dorsal and ventral flap from the residual vertical canal – 1 incision cranially and the other caudally
- Close – reflect the dorsal and ventral cartilage flaps into place
Where is a total ear canal ablation and lateral bulla osteotomy done?
Taking horizontal and vertical ear canals and taking lateral wall of the bulla
How is a total ear canal ablation and lateral bulla osteotomy?
- Skin incision – T-shaped incisions that extends below level of horizontal canal, around the inside of the pinna to include the whole opening to the vertical ear canal.
- Exposure the vertical canal
- Perform a lateral bulla osteotomy
When is a ventral bulla osteotomy done?
When external ear canal is unaffected and/or disease is confined to the middle ear or if has had external ear canal surgery but residual disease in bulla.
What are the reasons for a pinnectomy?
- Neoplasia - curative or palliative
- Neutering status – feral cats
- Trauma – if very severe damage
How is a pinnectomy done?
- Excise tip
- Undermine the lateral skin with/without excise a further 2mm cartilage
- Find a tissue plane between skin and cartilage
- Elevate the lateral skin enough to allow it come over the top of the cartilage
- Suture skin closed medially
What are the possible complications of ear surgery?
- Failure to cure
- Healing tissue
- Anatomical complication
- Infection
- Haemorrhage
- Neurological complication
When might ear surgery cause failure to cure? How is this treated?
Wrong procedure
Neoplasia
Treatment – more surgery, palliation
When might healing tissue be problematic after ear surgery? How is this treated?
- Residual infected tissue causing para-aural abscess
- Residual cartilage
- Patient interference
- Poor technique
Treatment – conservative management or more surgery
What are the possible anatomical complications of ear surgery and how is this treated?
- Cauliflower ear
- Stenosis
- Traumatic ear canal avulsion causing para-aural abscess
Treatment – conservative management or more surgery
When might ear surgery cause infection and how is this treated?
- Recurrence of primary condition
- Secondary infection
Treatment – culture and targeted antibiosis, more surgery
When might ear surgery cause haemorrhage and how is this treated?
- External to ear canal – branches of jugular and carotid
- Within bulla – retroglenoid vein
Treatment – avoid, ligatures, electrosurgery, pressure, bone wax
What are the consequences of neurological complications of ear surgery?
Temporary neuropraxia or permanent dysfunction
Externally vulnerable branches of cranial nerves – facial nerve runs around horizontal canal from caudal to cranial
Internal branches of cranial nerves
- Sympathetic branches within middle ear > Horner’s syndrome
- Vestibular nerves > balance issues
- Cochlear nerves > hearing issues
How are neurological complications from ear surgery treated?
Conservative management, more surgery, palliation
Define an pharyngeal mucocele.
Salivary mucocele within the pharynx formed due to damage to mandibular or parotid salivary ducts
Define ranula.
Salivary mucocele under the tongue formed due to damage to mandibular or sublingual salivary ducts
Define sialography.
Contrast radiography of salivary ducts
Define sialoliths.
Stones formed within salivary glands/saliva
Define subcutaneous emphysema.
Free air under the skin
Define trichobezoar.
Furball
When approaching the neck surgically, where are the important anatomical landmarks in this region?
- Muscles = combined sternohyoideus and sternothyroideus
- Oesophagus = dorsal to the trachea and just to the left of midline
- Larynx = cranial, midline and palpable
- Trachea = caudal to larynx, midline and palpable
- Recurrent laryngeal nerves = run from thorax to larynx either side of trachea
- Thyroids and parathyroid glands = caudal to the larynx, either side of trachea
What is the aetiology of stick injuries?
- History of playing with sticks
- Owner aware or unaware
What are the oropharyngeal clinical signs of peracute stick injuries?
- Severe impaling injury
- Severe haemorrhage
- Dyspnoea due to pneumomediastinum/pneumothorax
What are the oropharyngeal clinical signs of acute stick injuries?
- Nothing
- Pain – one yelp, pain opening mouth
- Pawing at mouth, gagging, retching, dysphagia
- Ptyalism/hypersalivation with/without blood
What are the systemic clinical signs of acute stick injuries?
Depression
Pyrexia
What are the oropharyngeal clinical signs of chronic stick injuries?
- Worsening of the acute signs
- Swelling
- Draining tract
- Inflammation/abscessation associated with a foreign body. Not all FBs will introduce an infection and some infections can be worse than others (antibiotic stewardship)
How are oral examinations used to diagnose stick injuries?
- Conscious > limited
- Sedation > rarely a good idea unless confident FB is in the oral cavity only, not further back and is stuck rather than penetrating
- GA safer – have control of the airway
Which imaging modalities can be used to diagnose stick injuries?
Laryngoscope/oesophagoscopy
Radiographs
Ultrasonography
CT - best for iceberg injuries
How are patients with stick injuries stabilised?
- IVFT if hypovolaemic or shocked
- Pain relief – opioids initially rather than NSAIDs
- Antibiotics
When is surgical exploration done with stick injuries?
- If unable to retrieve pieces
- If acute with signs of cervical emphysema/dyspnoea
- If chronic stick injury
Outline stick injury surgeries.
- Follow the tract
- Need a larger incision than you might suspect
- Culture and histopathology
- Debride and flush
- Close
Why is debridement and flushing important in stick injury surgery?
- Microscopic FBs can be present
- Necrotic tissue will make it difficult to clear infection and be a cause of ongoing draining sinus tract without foreign material
What is the post-op management for stick injury surgery?
Analgesia
IVFT
Antibiotics
What is the prognosis of acute and chronic stick injury surgeries?
Acute – best handled definitively at time of presentation so no residual foreign material, repair damage as required
Chronic – pre-treatment can complicate investigation, particularly antibiotics (resistance an issue), best to explore when actively draining
Where does the cervical oesophagus sit in relation to the trachea?
Dorsal and to the left
What are the clinical signs of cervical oesophageal foreign bodies?
Gagging
Dysphagia
Retching
Regurgitation
Vomiting
Dyspnoea
What are the common sites of cervical oesophageal foreign bodies?
Heart base
Distal oesophageal sphincter
Near the diaphragm
How can cervical oesophageal foreign bodies be diagnosed with imaging?
- Radiographs – may need contrast to highlight radiolucent FBs, plain radiography may not identify perforations, avoid barium in case there is a perforation
- Ultrasound
- CT
- Fluoroscopy
- Endoscopy - ideal, allows for easier, safer less traumatic removal, assessment of damage
How can oesophageal foreign bodies be retrieved non-surgically?
Oesophageal foreign body forceps – blind retrieval, can be traumatic, bring foreign body out of mouth if can be done with minimal trauma.
Can use a Foley catheter pushed beyond the FB and bulb inflated and advance into stomach
Outline surgical retrieval of cervical oesophageal foreign bodies?
- Ventral, midline skin incision
- Split the paired strap muscles
- Avoid damage to neurovascular/thyroids
- Gentle retractors to expose
- Longitudinal incision following the oesophageal striations
- They have no serosal layer means that dehiscence is more likely than for small intestinal surgery