Ear trauma
S. Musheer Hussain, Paul White, Kim W Ah-See, Patrick Spielmann, Mary-Louise Montague in ENT Head & Neck Emergencies, 2018
Mechanical forces arising from pressure changes produce barotrauma. Middle ear barotrauma is the most frequent pressure-induced ear condition. Examples of large pressure changes include the rapid increase in external ear canal pressure from slap injuries typically sustained during assault, airplane descent, diving ascent or a blast injury. This can cause TM retraction, intra-tympanic membrane haemorrhage, middle ear effusion or, in severe cases, TM perforation. Symptoms include sensation of ear blockage with otalgia, which may be severe. Perilymph fistula can occasionally be caused by barotrauma and will lead to SNHL and balance disturbance. The fistula test may be positive in such cases.
Evaluation of the Skull Base Patient
John C Watkinson, Raymond W Clarke, Christopher P Aldren, Doris-Eva Bamiou, Raymond W Clarke, Richard M Irving, Haytham Kubba, Shakeel R Saeed in Paediatrics, The Ear, Skull Base, 2018
Otalgia can be classified into otogenic otalgia, which originates from external, middle and inner ear, and referred otalgia, which arises from pathology outside the ear. Referred otalgia is associated with: (i) auriculotemporal nerve (cranial nerve V3); (ii) posterior auricular nerve (cranial nerve VII); (iii) Jacobson’s nerve (cranial nerve IX); (iv) Arnold’s nerve (cranial nerve X); (v) greater auricular nerve (C2); and (vi) lesser occipital nerve (C3). Severe otalgia is a cardinal symptom of intratemporal malignancy, particularly carcinoma of the external auditory canal or middle ear.7
Throat
Marie Lyons, Arvind Singh in Your First ENT Job, 2018
Pain and otalgia. This is a certainty rather than a risk. Tonsillectomy is a painful operation, and the pain is often worst on the fourth or fifth day (i.e. when the patient is at home!), after which it gets better. Analgesia should be taken regularly, even if the pain is not severe, for at least a week. The patient should also be encouraged to eat and drink as normally as possible, as this prevents stiffness developing in the pharyngeal muscles. Pain may also radiate to the ear. This does not mean that the patient has an ear infection - the pain is referred.
Physical therapist guided active intervention of chronic temporomandibular disorder presenting as ear pain: A case report
Published in Physiotherapy Theory and Practice, 2022
Sudarshan Anandkumar, Murugavel Manivasagam
Common symptoms found in TMD include pain, stiffness, limited mouth opening or jaw deviation while opening and popping, clicking or crepitus of the joint (De Rossi, Greenberg, Liu, and Steinkeler, 2014). Apart from these symptoms, otolaryngological complaints such as ear pain, ear fullness, tinnitus, and vertigo are also linked with TMD (Kusdra et al., 2018). Ear pain (otalgia) is classified as either primary or secondary (Ely, Hansen, and Clark, 2008). Primary otalgia is caused by a pathology of the ear with the patients typically presenting with an abnormal ear examination (Ely, Hansen, and Clark, 2008). Common causes of primary otalgia include otitis media, otitis externa, and eustachian tube dysfunction (Neilan and Roland, 2010). In secondary otalgia, which accounts for about 50% of the cases, the ear is not the direct source of pathology and pain can be referred from dental or pharyngeal structures, sinuses, salivary glands, the cervical spine, or temporomandibular joint (TMJ) (Neilan and Roland, 2010).
Facial nerve paralysis in malignant otitis externa: comparison of the clinical and paraclinical findings
Published in Acta Oto-Laryngologica, 2020
Sasan Dabiri, Narges Karrabi, Nasrin Yazdani, Ahmad Rahimian, Azita Kheiltash, Mehrdad Hasibi, Elham Saedi
The most common clinical symptom was otalgia. Although there wasn’t any significant difference concerning the prevalence of clinical symptoms between two groups such as otalgia (p = 1.00), otorrhea (p = .13), hearing loss (p = .69), headache (p = .58), tinnitus (p = .82), vertigo (p = .14), pruritus (p = 1.00), other cranial nerve involvement (p = .15), multiple cranial nerve involvement (p = .10); but there was a significant discrepancy in terms of chief complaint (p < .01). The duration of clinical symptoms before hospitalization was 3.3 and 3.0 months in the patients with and without facial palsy, respectively.
Primary epithelioid angiosarcoma of the temporal bone with initial presentation of otalgia
Published in Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings, 2018
Di Ai, Riyam T. Zreik, Frank S. Harris, Gerhard Hill, Yuan Shan
Otalgia is a complaint seen frequently in general practice. However, otalgia secondary to a tumor is very rare. The incidence of middle ear and temporal bone tumors is estimated to be 1 in 5000.1 Patients with cancers in this region may report symptoms of otalgia or dysphagia, and some are asymptomatic.2 Symptoms, including oropharyngeal symptoms, facial paresis or paralysis, dizziness, progressive onset of hearing loss, and immunosuppressed status, when present, should prompt a more detailed history, physical examination, and radiographic imaging.2