Long-term outcomes of ossiculoplasty using bone cement.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the long-term results of ossiculoplasty using bone cement. METHOD: Forty patients (24 females and 16 males; mean age: 34.1 ± 11.8 years; range, 9-54 years) with chronic otitis media with perforation but without cholesteatoma who had undergone incudostapedial rebridging ossiculoplasty using bone cement were evaluated retrospectively. Pre-operative and post-operative audiograms were evaluated. Bone conduction, air conduction and air-bone gaps were calculated according to international guidelines. RESULTS: There was a mean reduction in pre-operative and post-operative air conduction (12.30 ± 11.98 dB), and this result was significant (p = 0.0001). There was a mean reduction in pre-operative and post-operative bone conduction (4.30 ± 6.69 dB), and this result was significant (p < 0.0001). The pre-operative air-bone gap was 27.65 dB and decreased to 19.65 dB during follow-up (p = 0.0001). No adverse reactions or complications were observed. CONCLUSION: Bone cement is reliable for the repair of incudostapedial-joint defects.

Is blood type really a risk factor for epistaxis?

Is blood type really a riskfactorfor epistaxis? OBJECTIVES: To determine the association between ABO blood type and epistaxis. METHODS: This retrospective study involved 359 patients with idiopathic epistaxis. Patients with risk factors for bleeding, including anticoagulant use, thrombocytopenia, hypertension, liver diseases, elevated bleeding time, low coagulation factor levels, or any benign/malignant tumor, were excluded from the study. Thus, only patients with idiopathic epistaxis were included in this study. For the control group, blood-type information was retrieved from the database of the Turkish Red Crescent, the largest blood bank in Turkey. RESULTS: The distributions of blood types A, B, AB, and 0 were compared between the epistaxis and control groups. The distribution of blood types A and AB did not significantly differ between the epistaxis and control groups (P>0.05). Blood type B occurred significantly less frequently (P<0.05) and blood type 0 occurred significantly more frequently (P<0.001) in the epistaxis group than in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Our study indicates that in the Turkish population, the 0 blood type is over-represented in patients with idiopathic epistaxis versus the general population. We conclude that blood type 0 is a risk factor for idiopathic epistaxis in the Turkish population.

Fascin expression in cholesteatoma: correlation with destruction of the ossicular chain and extent of disease.

OBJECTIVE: Fascin is an actin-bundling protein found in cell membrane protrusions and increases cell motility. The expression of fascin in epithelial neoplasms has been described only recently. No data are available concerning the role of this protein in invasive cholesteatoma. Thus, we investigated the expression of fascin in cholesteatoma tissue and the relationship between fascin expression and intraoperative evaluation of the destruction of the ossicular chain and extent of disease. METHOD: Cholesteatoma specimens of 28 patients and external auditory canal (EAC) skin specimens of the same patients (as the control group) were collected from mastoidectomies. Immunohistochemical technique was used to investigate the fascin expression in all cholesteatoma tissues and EAC skin specimens. Immunohistochemical staining was assessed semiquantitatively based on the thickness of epithelium. SPSS software version 16.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) was performed to statistically analyse the relationships between fascin expression and intraoperative evaluation destruction of ossicular chain and extent of the disease. RESULTS: Immunohistochemically, there was no or very low fascin expression observed in normal epithelial cells of EAC skin, while expressed in cholesteatoma tissue. Also, fascin expression in cholesteatoma tissues was significantly correlated with destruction of ossicular chain and extent of the disease. CONCLUSIONS: Fascin expression is usually found in cholesteatoma epithelium and is correlated with destruction of the ossicular chain and extent of disease. Considering all of the correlations between the clinical and histopathological findings, 'fascin immunoexpression scoring' may be used for histological grading of cholesteatoma.