Journal of Otorhinolaryngology and Facial Plastic Surgery

Abstract:

Aging is a very important issue in our modern life. Auditory processing problems are common in older adults. There are different ways to study these problems.The aim of this cross sectional study was to evaluate the pure processing effect of aging on auditory evoked potentials.

Materials and methods:

The auditory brain stem response (ABR) and the auditory middle latency response (AMLR) weremeasuredin 32 younger adults (mean age, 20.41±2.13 years) and compared with those of 32 older adults (mean age, 68.16±6.20 years). Both groups had normal peripheral hearing sensitivity and normal cognitive status, according to pure tone audiometry and Mini Mental State Examination results.The group of older adults was selected from subjectswith problemsunderstanding speech in noisy places. Multivariate tests wereused for the statistical analysis.

RESULTS:

Most ABR wave latencies increased and their amplitudes decreased in older adults. (P< 0.05). The latency of AMLR waves was significantly prolonged only for the Nb componentin the right and left ears and for the Pa component during binaural stimulation (p < 0.05).Theamplitude of all AMLR waves increased significantly, except for Na in both ears (p < 0.05).

Conclusion:

Aging had a pure central effect on the processing ability of the entire neural auditory system.Aging reduced the central inhibition process at the cortical level.

Background: Postoperative pain following tonsillectomy is a common problem of this surgical procedure.

Purpose: To compare the effects of preincisional peritonsillar infiltration of lidocaine and bupivacaine on post tonsillectomy pain in patients older than 8 years old.

Methods: A double blind randomized clinical trial was conducted in patients undergoing elective tonsillectomy or adenotonsillectomy. The patients randomly allocated into three groups. Peritonsillar infiltrations with bupivacaine, lidocaine and normal saline were applied in group 1 2 and 3respectively. In 5th, 10th and 20th postoperative hours, the severity of pain was evaluated by visual analogue scale (VAS).

Results: The patients in the bupivacaine group experienced a significantly milder pain in all postoperative hours comparing with the other groups. This effect was more obvious in male sex. The difference in pain sensation between lidocaine and saline groups was not significant.

Background: The nasal valve area is a functional unit that deformity and or obstruction of it can certainly influence the quality of life of patients. In order to resolve this problem, there are various surgical and non-surgical procedures. In the surgical procedure, the different techniques are recommended in patients with nasal value collapse and nasal tip pinching. One of these is lateral crural strut flap that can be preferred for correcting nasal tip.

Purpose: The evaluation of improvement nasal value collapse and nasal tip pinching with the lateral crural strut flap technique in rhinoplasty.

Methods: This quasi- experimental study was conducted on 25 patients with nasal obstruction and nasal tip pinching in Loghman Hakim hospital, Tehran, Iran. All patients underwent elective rhinoplasty using the lateral crural strut flap technique. Wilcoxon rank sum test was used to compare the clinical findings of before and after operation; The significant level was considered less than 0.05.

Results: There was statistically significant difference before and after rhinoplasty findings (p-value< 0.001). Eighteen out of 25 (72%) patients had high satisfaction for surgical outcomes

Conclusion: The lateral crural strut flap technique was shown to be a successful surgical procedure for resolving nasal value collapse and nasal tip pinching.

Background: The use of rigid nasal endoscopy is one of the common methods to investigate anomalies and pathologies of nasal cavities in the patients with sinonasal symptoms.

Purpose: To identify the effect of whole pomegranate extract on pain relief during nasal endoscopy.

Methods: Adults candidate for rigid nasal endoscopy were enrolled from January 2015 to April 2015 in Loghman hospital. The patients were randomized in a double-blinded fashion, to receive two solutions; whole pomegranate extract(WPE)  and shrinkage solution (SS) that was consisted of 5cc lidocaine 2% and 5cc phenylephrin 0.5 %. The principle outcomes were severity of pain and mucosal appearance during nasal endoscopy.

Results: A total of 41 patients (mean age: 40.05±12.92) were studied. There were no significant differences in severity of pain and mucosal appearance between both groups.

Conclusion: A new point in modern medicine is using traditional medicine as a complementary arm.  The natural elements can be sometimes a good alternative. The pomegranate extract probably has constrictive effects and can be an alternative for vasoconstrictor drugs.   There is a need for stronger research in this field.

Since the potential of stem cells (SCs) in treating diseases is superb, it is believed that the use of SCs is a promising therapeutic approach in hearing damage. More than 250 million people of worldwide are born deaf. The deaf hearing generally originate from defect on sensory receptors (hair cells) or nerves associated with them (spiral ganglion neurons). Hair cells in some animals such as fish, amphibians and birds can regenerate or replace by new cells, but damage to the hair cells in mammals are not being replaced through cell division or regeneration in the inner ear. Cell therapy for hearing loss is still several years away, but researches opens up possibilities for restoring hearing in the future. Here we review developments in cell therapy approach in treatment of hearing loss.