Chronic otorrhoea, otalgia and hearing loss not responding to antibiotics and tympanoplasty surgery.

Chronic otorrhoea from a tympanic membrane perforation is common. We present the case of a patient who had already received seemingly adequate treatment for his condition in the past. Yet, he presented to our outpatient clinic with worsening otalgia and otorrhoea, progressive hearing loss and a new tympanic membrane perforation. After a thorough otological evaluation, the patient's medical history and the histological specimen from a previous operation were reviewed. The findings met the diagnostic criteria of eosinophilic otitis media. After treatment with topic triamcinolone through the perforated tympanic membrane, the patient's otalgia subsided, hearing levels were improved and the size of the tympanic membrane perforation decreased.

A gustatory stimulator.

BACKGROUND: In order to elicit gustatory event related potentials (gERPs) a special taste delivery system is needed which allows precise control of stimulus onset and duration. NEW METHOD: Aim of this investigation was to describe the characteristics, namely onset rise-time step and onset delay time of a recently new taste delivery system based on stepper-motor, computer-driven glass syringes, able to spray pulses of liquid solutions into the mouth. RESULTS: The measurement showed that the pulse rise time is less than 100 ms and increases with the pulse duration; the delay of the stimulus on a 12 m hose is between 55 ms and 71 ms. COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHODS: The gustometer in examination produce a stream of pulses, constituted by a certain number of taste stimuli interleaved among a number of tasteless pulses, moreover the solution is thermos-regulated at internal body temperature. This make the technique appealing for event related procedure in neuroscience investigation related to gustatory tasks. CONCLUSION: These results of the time rise measurements confirm the suitability of this gustometer to elicit ERPs.