Outcomes of Endolymphatic Sac Surgery for Meniere's Disease with and without Comorbid Migraine.

PURPOSE: To explore outcomes of endolymphatic sac surgery for patients with Meniere's disease with and without the comorbid condition of migraine. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective chart review of adult patients undergoing endolymphatic sac surgery at a single tertiary care center from 1987 to 2019 was performed. All adult patients who failed medical therapy and underwent primary endolymphatic sac surgery were included. The main outcome measures were vertigo control and functional level scale (FLS) score. Patient characteristics, comorbidities, and audiometric outcomes were tracked as well. RESULTS: Patients with Meniere's disease and migraine had a stronger association with psychiatric comorbidities (64.29% vs. 25.80%, p=0.01), shorter duration of vertigo episodes (143 vs. 393 min, p=0.02), and younger age (36.6 vs. 50.8 yr, p=0.005) at the time of endolymphatic sac surgery. Postoperative pure tone averages and word recognition scores were nearly identical to preoperative baselines. Class A vertigo control (47.92%) was most common, followed by class B vertigo control (31.25%). The FLS score improved from 4.2 to 2.8 (p < 0.001). Both patients with and without migraine had classes A-B vertigo control (66.67% vs. 80.95%) without any statistically significant difference (p=0.59). Of the patients who required secondary treatment (10.42%), none had migraine. CONCLUSIONS: Endolymphatic sac surgery is an effective surgical intervention for Meniere's disease with and without migraine. Patients with comorbid migraine tend to be younger and present with psychiatric comorbidities.

Changes in Wide-band Tympanometry Absorbance Following Cochlear Implantation.

OBJECTIVE: Determine if changes in middle ear absorbance measured with wide-band tympanometry (WBT) occur following hearing-preservation cochlear implantation (CI). Such measures may provide insight into the mechanisms of acoustic hearing loss postimplantation. STUDY DESIGN: Clinical capsule report. SETTING: Tertiary academic referral center. DESIGN: WBT absorbance was measured bilaterally during pre- and postoperative clinical office visits in five unilaterally-implanted cochlear implant recipients. Pre- and postoperative WBT measures were compared within each subject in the implanted and contralateral, unimplanted ears. RESULTS: In general, WBT absorbance measurements show a broad spectral pattern including two or three distinct peaks measured over a frequency range of 226 to 8000 Hz. Grand average and linear mixed model comparisons between the pre- and postoperative WBT patterns show significantly reduced (p < 0.05) low-frequency absorbance in the implanted ears in the frequency region over 0.6 to 1.1 kHz, but not in the unimplanted ears. The maximum effect occurred at 1 kHz with absorbance decreasing from ∼0.8 to ∼0.5 after implantation. The limited data are consistent with expected relationships between WBT absorbance and air- and bone-conduction thresholds, assuming an increased air-bone gap reflects conductive hearing loss. CONCLUSION: Cochlear implantation can result in reduction of low-frequency acoustic absorbance as measured by WBT. WBT may be a useful and sensitive tool for monitoring the mechanical status of the middle and inner ears following cochlear implantation.

Cochlear Ossification in a Patient with Cogan's Syndrome Undergoing Bilateral Cochlear Implantation.

We present the case of a young female patient diagnosed with Cogan's syndrome after the rapid onset of profond hearing and vestibular loss with concomitant eye symptoms. After appropriate medical treatment, her hearing did not respond and she underwent bilateral simultaneous cochlear implantation with findings of extensive cochlear ossification in both ears. The case and outcome are described in the body of the paper.

Bilateral spontaneous temporomandibular joint herniation: A case report and literature review.

In this article we report the case of a 41-year-old man with bilateral aural fullness and hearing loss. On examination he was found to have bilateral, dehiscent anterior canal walls with herniation of the mandibular condyle. This herniation partially obstructed the canals and contributed to his symptoms. To the best of our knowledge, this is only the third reported case of bilateral spontaneous temporomandibular joint herniation, and only 28 cases of unilateral spontaneous herniation can be found in the English language literature. While it is a rare phenomenon, it should be considered when evaluating a patient with fluctuating ear symptoms.

Side-to-end hypoglossal to facial anastomosis with transposition of the intratemporal facial nerve.

OBJECTIVE: To describe results in a large series of patients using a recent variation of hypoglossal-facial nerve anastomosis (HFA) in which the intratemporal facial nerve segment is used, obviating the need for a sensory nerve "jump graft." STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective chart review. SETTING: Tertiary neurotologic referral center. PATIENTS: Nineteen patients (12 female/7 male subjects) with facial paralysis because of posterior fossa surgery for tumor (n = 15), Bell's palsy (n = 1), facial neuroma (n = 1), hemangioma (n = 1), and trauma (n = 1) who underwent HFA from 1997 to 2011, with at least 1-year follow-up. Mean age at surgery is 47.4 years (range, 11.2-83 yr). Mean follow-up is 4.0 years. INTERVENTION: Side-to-end hypoglossal to facial anastomosis with transposition of the intratemporal facial nerve (swingdown HFA). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: House-Brackmann (H-B) facial nerve grade. RESULTS: Seven patients (36.8%) achieved an H-B Grade III, 9 patients (47.4%) a grade IV, and 3 patients (15.8%) a grade V at last follow-up. No patients complained of dysphagia, dysarthria, or had evidence of oral incompetence. One patient complained of mild tongue weakness. Age at time of HFA (p ≤ 0.049, III younger than V) and time from facial nerve injury to HFA (p ≤ 0.02, III