New Hearing and Vertigo Clinic

We have started a weekly hearing and vertigo clinic. Although the supply of material and prostheses needed for ear surgery are still being obtained, we were not able to wait when a 24 year old girl presented in coma from an invading cholesteatoma of her left non hearing ear. Her pars flacida cholesteatoma extended anterior to the malleus, deep into the petrous bone, destroying the malleus, incus and horizontal canal. A radical mastoidectomy was performed and left open, because our patients frequently do not return and we do not have an MRI to observe for residual cholesteatoma. Two days ago we saw her in the clinic and she is doing well, without headache. Another successful ear case this week included a seven year old girl from whom we removed a stone from her middle ear. She was referred from another hospital where they had tried to remove the stone. When we removed her stone at surgery, we found the girl had a total eardrum perforation, dislocation of the malleus and the stone in her middle ear. With a microscope and good equipment, stones can be removed without anesthesia and without complications. Finally we were asked to see a patient who developed sudden profound bilateral hearing loss. He had become paralyzed from tuberculosis of the lumbar vertebrae and simultaneously lost his hearing. We now have to check if he received any ototoxic drugs prior to being transferred or if he has tubercular meningitis.