Otologic Trauma

Basics

Ear cartilage has no blood supply and is nutritionally dependent on perichondrium
Hematomas often disrupt perichondrium and cartilage that can lead to:
- Ischemia
- Perichondritis
- Necrosis
- Also known as: cauliflower ear
Penetrating injuries or bite wounds may lead to infection of cartilage

Air-space cavity containing ossicles; susceptible to injuries disrupting middle-ear pressure (blast, diving)
Bordered by medial cranial fossa (including temporal and mastoid bones)
Traumatic fractures can lead to CSF leak (otorrhea/rhinorrhea) and may disrupt enclosed vestibular system:
- Facial nerve passes through the facial canal within the temporal bone, coursing adjacent to the middle ear cavity, where injury can result in peripheral nerve paralysis.

Blunt trauma: Most commonly motor vehicle crashes or fights/contact sports (wrestling, boxing):
- Otologic involvement noted in about ¼ of patients with head injury
Foreign bodies (FBs): Objects vary by age; toy-related objects including marbles and air-gun pellets are more likely in children under 10 yr old. As age increases, toys became a smaller proportion, while cotton balls, insects, and earring materials became more common:
- Complications include laceration and tympanic membrane (TM) perforation
Human or animal bites
Blast injury
Lightning injury: TM and ossicular disruptions occur in 50% of lightning strikes
Fireworks injury: 15% are otologic injuries including hearing loss, otalgia, and TM perforation
Chemical exposure
Thermal injury
Diving injuries:
- Inner-ear barotrauma
- TM rupture

Consider nonaccidental trauma

There's more to see -- the rest of this topic is available only to subscribers.

All content is protected by copyright and may not be used for AI model training or other unauthorized purposes.