Bell’s palsy or idiopathic facial palsy is the commonest cause of unilateral lower motor neuron facial palsy. Misdiagnosis of facial nerve palsy as Bell’s palsy is still seen in clinical practice. The clinician should always consider the possibility of a potentially serious underlying pathology before making the diagnosis of Bell’s palsy.

We present a series of 13 patients referred to our ENT department with an initial diagnosis of Bell’s palsy. Further clinical examination and investigation revealed the underlying cause. Many had additional symptoms and signs related to the ear.

In all patients with unilateral facial palsy a detailed history should be taken and thorough clinical examination carried out. Where no recovery occurs within the expected time period further radiological investigations such as computerized axial tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) should be performed. Current scanning techniques provide good quality images, which can show occult lesions of the temporal bone, internal acoustic canal and/or cerebellopontine angle. Radiologists with a special interest and experience in otoneurological radiology should ideally report these images, and a close co-operation between ENT surgeon and radiologist is essential in arriving at a proper diagnosis.

The combined Heermann and Tos (CHAT) technique is the combination of Heermann’s ’cartilage palisade tympanoplasty’ and Tos’s ’modified combined approach tympanoplasty = modified intact canal wall mastoidectomy’. The first author (Cem Uzun) performed the CHAT technique as a one-stage operation in 15 ears of 15 patients with cholesteatoma. Two patients (one with a follow up of less than six months and one who did not show up at the final re-evaluation) were excluded from the study. Median age in the remaining 13 patients was 37 years (range: 14–57 years). Cholesteatoma type was attic, sinus (Tos tensa type 1) and tensa retraction (Tos tensa type 2) in six, five and two ears, respectively. Cholesteatoma stage was Saleh and Mills stage 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 in one, three, four, four and one ear, respectively. The eustachian tube was not involved with cholesteatoma in any ear. After drilling of the superoposterior bony annulus, transcanal atticotomy with preservation of thin bridge and cortical mastoidectomy with intact canal wall, the cholesteatoma was removed, and the eardrum and atticotomy were reconstructed with palisades of auricular cartilage. Type I tympanoplasty was performed in two ears, type II in nine ears and type III (stapes absent) in two ears, with either autologous incus (eight cases), cortical bone (two) or auricular cartilage (one). No complication occurred before, during or after surgery. Oto-microscopy and audiometry were done before and at a median of 13 months after surgery (mean 14 months, range 7–30 months). There was no sign of residual or recurrent cholesteatoma in any patient during the follow-up period. At the final examination, all ears were dry and had an intact eardrum except one with a small, central hole, which had been seen since the early post-operative period. Clean and stable attic retraction with a wide access was observed in two ears. Post-operative hearing at the final evaluation was better (change > 10 dB) than the pre-operative one in nine ears and did not change in the remaining four. Pre- and post-operative mean hearing values were, pure-tone average 47 and 35 dB (p = 0.01) and air-bone gap 30 and 20 dB (p = 0.02), respectively. With the CHAT technique, cholesteatoma can be completely and safely removed from the middle ear, and a durable and resistant reconstruction of the middle ear with reasonable hearing can be achieved. However, a further study should analyse long-term results of a larger patient group.

The objective of this study was to assess the efficacy of topical lignocaine in reducing the pain of pack removal after nasal surgery. Fifty-eight patients with Merocel nasal packs in situ after nasal surgery were randomized to receive 10 ml of either 2 per cent lignocaine or 0.9 per cent saline on the packs 10 minutes prior to their removal and thepain experienced on their removal was recorded on a visual analogue scale. The median pain score was 3.4 in the lignocaine group and 2.9 in the saline group with no statistical evidence of adifference between the two groups. There was no statistical evidence of an association between the group and the operation performed, the use of intra-operative Moffat’s solution or the use of post-operative oral analgesia. We conclude that lignocaine used in this way does not reduce the pain of pack removal after nasal surgery.

Objective: To determine whether Henle’s spine could be used as a reliable and multipurpose landmark for the other important structures of the skull base.

Materials and methods: Ninety-two specimens from 46 cadaveric adult dry skulls were studied. Two imaginary lines and a triangle were defined: a spinopterygoidal line extending from Henle’s spine to the root of the medial pterygoid plate, a bispinal line extending from one Henle’s spine to the contralateral one, and a parapetrosal triangle lying between the spinopterygoidal line, the bispinal line and the sagittal midline. The parapetrosal triangle encompasses nearly all the main structures of the skull base, including the petrosal internal carotid artery.

Results: Along the spinopterygoidal line the distance from Henle’s spine to the spine of the sphenoid was found to be about 3 cm, to the foramen spinosum 3.5 cm, to the posterior and anterior margins of the foramen ovale 4 and 4.5 cm, to the root of the lateral pterygoid plate 5 cm, to the root of the medial pterygoid plate 5.5 cm, and to the vomer 6.5–7 cm. Along the bispinal line, the distance from Henle’s spine to the stylomastoid foramen was found to be about 1.5 cm, to the lateral and medial margins of the jugular foramen 2.5 and 3.5 cm, to the external orifice of the hypoglossal canal 4 cm, and to the foramen magnum 5 cm.

Conclusion: Henle’s spine with its superficial and central position can be used to localize important anatomical structures during skull-base surgery.

Otolaryngologic symptoms are common and patients presenting to the otolaryngologist will often be taking drugs for the treatment of unrelated diseases. As a doctor, one must not forget the potential of these drugs to cause otologic side effects and, in some cases, to be the cause of the presenting symptom.

We performed a comprehensive search of the British National Formulary and Electronic Medical Compendium websites to classify the otologic side effects caused by drugs. Not all the data were found at both websites. We have compiled all the data together, subclassified them and produced a review of the otologic side effects of drugs, in table form.

The aim of this study was to identify the common features in a study group of patients with spontaneous cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) rhinorrhoea, to develop a hypothesis to explain the cause of this condition and to investigate the outcome of surgical techniques adopted to repair the leak. In this retrospective study the authors have reviewed all the cases of spontaneous CSF leaks attending and receiving treatment from the otolaryngology department of Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, from 1992 to 2002.

Of 34 patients with CSF leaks, 15 were spontaneous in nature and formed the study group. Of these 15 patients, 14 were female; with ages ranging from 37 to 70 years and a median age of 50 years. All the female patients were overweight with a body mass index (BMI) >24.9 and, of these, nine were considered obese with a BMI >30. It was attempted to identify common factors in the study group and it was evident that female sex, obesity and age played a key role in this condition.

The follow-up period ranged from two to 98 months. Thirteen patients were asymptomatic but two patients remained symptomatic, one of these despite repeated surgical intervention.

Objective: To evaluate the safety of CO2 laser cordectomy in the treatment of glottic carcinoma as a day-case procedure.

Study design: This was a retrospective study of a cohort of 73 patients with glottic carcinoma treated by laser cordectomy as a day-case procedure using a CO2 laser, between January 2000 and June 2004.

Results: There were no major complications and no patients required reintubation. More than 90 per cent of the patients were discharged on the day of the procedure. There were seven unplanned admissions to hospital but none of these appeared to be the direct result of the surgery, and the patients were discharged the next day. All the patients stated they would have further surgery in this manner if required.

Conclusion: Laser cordectomy for glottic carcinoma can be safely performed as an out-patient procedure if patients are carefully selected according to specific criteria.

A number of different approaches have been developed to inhibit telomerase activity in human cancer cells. In this study, the effect of antisense oligonucleotides (ODNs) by targeting human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) mRNA in a laryngeal cancer cell line (Hep-2) was investigated. A 20mer antisense oligodeoxynucleotide targeting the most open part of hTERT mRNA (anti-hTERT) and a mismatched control sequence were synthesized. Cells were treated daily with oligonucleotides for up to 72 hours. hTERT mRNA expression was measured by the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay; telomerase activity by the telomerase PCR ELISA assay kit (TRAP; Boehringer Mannheim, GmbH, Mannheim, Germany). Cell viability after administration of ODNs was determined using the MTT assay. Morphological changes were examined by haematoxylin and eosin staining. The cell cycle was analyzed using flow cytometry.

It was found that antisense treatment induced a decrease in hTERT mRNA expression, telomerase activity, cell growth rate, cell viability, and an increase in apoptosis. The results suggest that inhibition of telomerase activity in Hep-2 cells by short-term antisense treatment against the mRNA of hTERT results in apoptotic cell death. The treatment with anti-hTERT may be useful as a treatment modality for laryngeal squamous carcinoma.

Both experimental and clinical studies have demonstrated that carbon dioxide laser is suitable for stapedotomy. The aim of this study was to investigate morphological, electrophysiological and functional changes in the inner ear after irradiation with CO2 laser set with different energy parameters.

A cochleostomy in the basal cochlear turn of guinea pig cochleae was performed with CO2 laser of 1, 2 and 3 w, respectively. The cochleae were removed three weeks after laser irradiation. The auditory evoked brainstem response (ABR) was measured before and after laser application and immediately before removal of the cochlea. Immunohistochemical methods were used to examine inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS/NOSII) and heat-shock protein 70(Hsp70) concentrations in the cochlea after laser application. The organ of Corti was studied by scanning electron microscopy.

Worse hearing loss was observed in animals receiving higher-power CO2 laser. These findings correlated with more intense injury of the cochlear ultrastructure and with positiveexpression of iNOS and Hsp70 in spiral ganglion cells, nerve fibres, supporting cells of the organ of Corti and cells of the spiral ligament.

The CO2 laser as a noncontact procedure is shown to be effective and safe if the total amount of energy is kept within the limits applied in this study. Nitric oxide and stressproteins play important roles in the traumatic mechanism of the inner ear, which are related tohearing loss and injury of the ultrastructure of the inner ear.

Objective: This study aims to examine the use of a radial artery graft for bypass of the maxillary artery (MA) to the supraclinoid internal carotid artery (ICA) in treating ICA occlusions.

Study design and setting: This method was carried out on five adult cadaver sides. The MA was reached 1–2 cm inferior to the crista infratemporalis, following a frontotemporal craniotomy and a zygomatic arch osteotomy. Extradurally 2–3 cm lateral to the foramen rotundum, a hole was drilled in the sphenoid bone with a 4 mm tipped drill. A radial artery graft was passed through the hole to the inside of the dura. Before giving the infraorbital artery branch, the MA was dissected from the surrounding tissue and transected. The proximal end of the graft was anastomosed end-to-end with the MA and the distal end of the graft end-to-side with the supraclinoid ICA.

Results: The mean calibre of the MA was 2.6 ± 0.3 mm. The mean calibre of the proximal end of the radial artery graft was 2.5 ± 0.25 mm and the distal end was 2.35 ± 0.2 mm. The mean length of the radial artery graft was 4.0 ± 0.5cm.

Conclusion: This study suggested that the cases with ICA occlusion, which require high blood flow, may be treated as an alternative to current bypass methods requiring long vein grafts.

Chronic otitis media (COM) patients who had a multichannel device implanted were evaluated regarding surgical problems and technical modifications. In a multicentric study, implantees whose aetiology was COM were retrospectively evaluated. Patients were operated on and evaluated at three different tertiary referral centres: SSK Izmir Hospital Cochlear Implantation (CI) Center (32 cases), Istanbul Marmara University ENT Clinic (six cases), Eskişehir Anadolu University CI Center (one case). Thirty-nine implantees were evaluated with respect to surgical problems, technical modifications, complications and hearing results. All patients had lost their hearings as a result of COM. Three out of 39 cases were children. Thirty-seven of the patients either had a radical cavity or ear converted to radical at the first stage or concomittantly with the implantation. Patients were evaluated in order to find out the best possible surgical solutions to specific problems caused by COM. In seven cases electrode array disrupted the epithelial lining of the cavity despite specific measures. Five of those cases were re-implanted, passing the electrode array through a tunnel under the facial nerve. Seven recent cases were also implanted with the same subfacial route. In all patients but one, satisfactory hearing results were achieved one to five years after implantation (SDS scores with monosyllabic word list were between 59 and 89 per cent, median 67.4 per cent). CI in COM patients necessitates technical modifications. In radical cavities subfacial implantation seems to be a good solution for the protection of the electrode array.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between the extent of sinus disease in chronic sinusitis as detected radiologically by computed tomography (CT) scan and the population of cilia (ciliary area) both before and after functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS). In a simple way this is a trial to statistically prove that the CT scan could be a valid indicator and a mirror of the histological status of the sinus mucosa.

Design: Twenty adult patients were enrolled in this study. Radiological extension of the sinus disease was quantitated using the classification proposed by Kennedy in 1992 and the ciliary population was studied using scanning electron microscopy and image analysis softwares.

Results and conclusion: The more advanced the sinusitis, as evidenced by CT scans, the more the expected reduction in the ciliary area (CA) and in the ciliary count. But after FESS the degree of ciliary regeneration does not depend statistically on the radiological condition of the sinuses and the degree of opacity prior to intervention, i.e. a statistically valid inverse relationship exists between the radiological stage of sinusitis and the ciliary population pre-operatively but the same relation does not extend to the ciliary population post-operatively.

Objective: To detect the presence of bacteria in mastoid granulations and compare its prevalence in both types of chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM). To find out if stage of disease activity, age, duration of disease, and aditus patency relate to obtaining positive cultures.

Study design and setting: A prospective, parallel group study done at a tertiary care referral centre. Mastoid granulations from 79 patients with CSOM undergoing mastoidectomy were processed for anaerobic and aerobic bacteria.

Results: Aerobes were isolated from 57.55 per cent of the tubotympanic and 74.4 per cent of atticoantral disease (p = 0.18). Anaerobic cultures were positive in one case from each group. Monomicrobial growth was detected in 37.5 per cent of tubotympanic and 48.5 per cent of atticoantral disease. Polymicrobial growth occurred in 20 per cent and 25.6 per cent in the tubotympanic and atticoantral groups, respectively. The predominant aerobic isolate was coagulase negative Staphylococcus, followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, non-fermenting Gram-negative bacteria, Enterobacter and Enterococcus, Proteus species, Citrobacter, non-pathogenic Neisseria, aerobic spore formers were grown only in atticoantral disease. A single isolate of Aspergillus was grown. Correlating the state of disease activity of the ears with positive mastoid granulation cultures, six out of the eight inactive ears were culture positive along with seven out of the nine active and 10 out of the 23 quiescent ears. Positive mastoid granulation cultures were obtained in 60 per cent of those with blocked aditus and 42.9 per cent with patent aditus.

Conclusion and significance: In this study, we found that mastoid granulations are not sterile but harbour polymicrobial pathogens. Positive cultures were obtained irrespective of stage of disease activity, age, duration of disease and aditus patency. The pattern of organisms cultured from safe and unsafe CSOM and also from ears in active, quiescent and inactive stages, were similar. These findings suggest that these organisms may be responsible for mastoid granulations. We also noted that positive cultures had no statistical correlation with aditus patency and duration of disease. We suggest further studies to evaluate the significance of asymptomatic mastoid granulations harbouring organisms and whether opening the mastoid antrum and achieving aditus patency, irrespective of the stage of disease activity, will help improve the long-term surgical outcome and also prevent recurrence of ear discharge.

Thirty-two members of staff from the Ear, Nose and Throat Department at Warrington General Hospital were asked to estimate blood loss in commonly encountered epistaxis scenarios. Results showed that once the measured volume was above 100 ml, visual estimation became grossly inaccurate. Comparison of medical and non-medical staff showed under-estimation was more marked in the non-medical group. Comparison of doctors versus nurses showed no difference in estimation, and no difference was found between grades of staff.

Surgery for cochlear implantation (CI) bears the risks of complication associated with all major surgery, in addition to the particular risks associated with implanting a foreign body into the peripheral auditory system. Here we present a retrospective study involving 227 cochlear implant operations in 205 children to evaluate the rate of intra- and post-operative complications.

Complications were defined as major complications, requiring explantation of the device or further operation, causing a significant medical problem, or leading to any degree of facial paralysis or requiring additional hospitalization for treatment; or defined as minor complications, namely those that settled spontaneously, with conservative treatment, with local care and/or with medication alone.

In our study there were 15 (6.6 per cent) minor and 28 (12.33 per cent) major complications. The most frequent minor complication was dizziness and vomiting (3.08 per cent), followed by transient hemifacial oedema (1.76 per cent), head pain (1.32 per cent) and mild ataxia (0.4 per cent). The most frequent major complication was trauma to the device (9.69 per cent), followed by cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) gusher (2.2 per cent) and facial paresis (0.4 per cent). All of the device trauma cases were re-implanted. There were neither any life-threatening complications nor any facial nerve paralysis in our implanted children.

This study confirms that CI is relatively safe and that major complications are few and within acceptable limits.

Although the definitions of subjective tinnitus and auditory hallucination are very similar, the origins and underlying causes of each symptom clearly differ. This study examined whether the differentiation of tinnitus from auditory hallucination is necessary for the proper management of these symptoms in schizophrenic patients. We investigated the characteristics of auditory hallucinations in 15 schizophrenic patients, and measured their pure-tone hearing levels and auditory brainstem responses (ABR). The average hearing level was 20.6 ± 16.2 dB, with a mild decrease at high frequencies. We classified the patients into three groups: pure hallucination, tinnitus, and hallucination plus tinnitus. Eight patients (53.3 per cent) complained of pure-hallucination and only one of them had a mild hearing loss. Hearing deficits were observed in six of seven tinnitus patients. Abnormal findings of ABR were found only in the pure-hallucination group. The results suggest that tinnitus should be differentiated fromauditory hallucination in the evaluation of schizophrenic patients.

Objective: To further understand the roles of bacteria and antibiotics in the development of otitis media with effusion (OME).

Methods: Samples of middle-ear effusion (MEE) were collected during the placement of ventilation tubes to treat chronic OME. Children with acute otitis media within the past three months were excluded from this study. We used polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect pathogens and to test the susceptibility of Streptococcus pneumoniae to penicillin.

Results: Among MEE samples from 52 children, PCR detected bacterial DNA in 32 per cent (24/75) of them. S. pneumoniae was detected more frequently in middle ears that required ventilation tube insertion at least twice compared with those requiring ventilation tube insertion only once (5/15 versus 4/60; p = 0.013). Higher levels of S. pneumoniae were detected in MEE from children with, than without, a long history of antibiotic administration (7/10 versus 2/14; p = 0.0187). The pbp genes of all isolated S. pneumoniae contained mutations.

Conclusions: Long exposure to antibiotics might significantly influence the bacterial genome in MEE.

A collapsible airway is often the common denominator in sleep-disordered breathing (SDB). The upper respiratory tract includes the nasal passage, nasopharynx, oral cavity, oropharynx, base-of-tongue region and the hypopharynx. It is believed that the highest amount of resistance in the upper respiratory tract is in the nasal cavities, and particularly the nasal valve. Most authors believe that when considering surgical options for patients with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) it is imperative to correct nasal pathology together with the other sites of airway obstruction. In this retrospective study, I sought to investigate the safety and efficacy of one-stage nasal and multi-level pharyngeal surgery. I compared two groups of patients: group 1, receiving one-stage nasal and multi-level pharyngeal surgery; and group 2, receiving only multi-level pharyngeal surgery. In group 1, nine out of 12 patients (75 per cent) met the criteria for surgical success, with a mean pre-operative apnoea-hypopnoea index (AHI) decreasing from 36.3 to 8.9 post-operatively (p<0.0002), while in group 2, 25 out of 40 patients met the surgical success criteria (62.5 per cent), with their mean AHI decreasing from 52.6 to 10.2 (p<0.0000). When comparing the surgical success rates between the two groups, it was not statistically significant, at p>0.106. There were no postoperative respiratory-related complications despite having bilateral nasal Merocel (tampon) packing in place (in group 1), and none of the patients in either group had any desaturation, hypoxaemia, apnoea or OSA-related complications. This series suggests that, with adequate post-operative monitoring, it is both safe and efficacious to perform both nasal and multi-level pharyngeal surgery in the one surgical session.

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a family of zinc and calcium-dependent endopeptidases that play a key role in extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation. MMPs are known to be important in normal remodelling processes. Overexpression and activation of MMPs or an imbalance of active MMPs and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs) has been linked with a number of specific disease states associated with the breakdown and remodelling of the extracellular matrix. MMPs and TIMPs play a role in the development and progression of conditions such as acute and chronic otitis media, nasal polyposis and Sjogren’s disease of salivary glands. Their role in allergic rhinitis has not been proven although they do appear to have a role in asthma, a condition closely linked to rhinitis. The use of a broad spectrum MMP inhibitor has been shown to alter the outcome of acute otitis media and otitis media with effusion. Therapeutic strategies with anti-MMP molecules are currently being developed and may play a role in modulating the course of non-neoplastic otorhinolaryngological disease in the future.