The use of an ostial stent does not increase the success rate of endoscopic dacryocystorhinostomy.

OBJECTIVE: This prospective, controlled study assessed how placing a stent into a newly formed ostium affects ostial patency, success and complication rates in endoscopic dacryocystorhinostomy patients. METHODS: In group 1 (40 eyes of 36 patients), both silicone tube intubation and tube stenting were performed. In group 2 (36 eyes of 34 patients), only silicone tube intubation was performed. Success, operative time and post-surgical complications were investigated two months post-operatively in each group. RESULTS: The success rates were 92.5 per cent and 83.3 per cent for groups 1 and 2 respectively, but the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.294). The complication rates also differed between the two groups, but this was again insignificant. CONCLUSION: Compared with the use of a silicone tube alone, the addition of an ostial stent did not significantly increase the success rate of endoscopic dacryocystorhinostomy.

Evaluation of halitosis using OralChroma™ in patients with allergic rhinitis.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the occurrence of halitosis in patients with allergic rhinitis (AR). MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, we enrolled 53 patients with AR and 34 participants as controls. Halitosis was evaluated by measuring volatile sulphur compound (VSC) levels. VSCs, which consist of hydrogen sulphide (HS), methyl mercaptan (MM), and dimethyl sulphide (DMS), were measured using a portable gas chromatograph (OralChroma™; AbiMedical, Osaka, Japan). RESULTS: Patients with AR exhibited significantly higher levels of MM and DMS that did control subjects. Specifically, MM levels showed a greater increase than DMS levels in patients with AR than in controls. We observed no significant changes in the levels of HS between the groups. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that AR is likely to result in halitosis. Several studies have overlooked the relationship between halitosis and AR. In light of our results, we suggest that halitosis should be further investigated in patients with AR.

Thiol/disulphide homeostasis as a novel indicator of oxidative stress in sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate a novel oxidative stress marker, thiol/disulphide literature homeostasis, in patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss, and to compare the results with healthy controls for the first time. METHODS: Thirty-two patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss and 30 healthy individuals were included in the study. Serum native thiol, total thiol and disulphide levels were measured, and disulphide/native thiol and disulphide/total thiol ratios were determined in all subjects. RESULTS: Serum native thiol and total thiol levels were significantly lower in patients with sudden sensorineural hearing loss compared with controls (p < 0.05). Of the 32 patients, 25 had lower native thiol levels than controls (333.2 ± 73.9 vs 381.8 ± 35.6 µmol/l, p = 0.002) and 24 had lower total thiol levels (375.1 ± 74.3 vs 426.1 ± 39.3 µmol/l, p = 0.002). CONCLUSION: The changes in oxidative markers evident in a significant number of patients may be associated with oxidative stress, which may, in turn, have caused sudden sensorineural hearing loss in those patients.