title: Contralateral normal ear after mastoid surgery: evaluation by otoacoustic emissions (mastoid drilling and hearing loss).
abstract: Mastoid drilling can cause transient hearing loss in the contralateral normal hearing ear. A study was designed to evaluate hearing in the contralateral normal ear before and after the mastoid surgery in a longitudinal manner and find out the duration of this temporary hearing loss. Twenty-two patients requiring mastoid surgery in their diseased ears, having contralateral normal ear were included. Pure tone audiometry and otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) were utilized for baseline evaluation. OAEs were repeated during the immediate postoperative period and daily up to the 6th postoperative day. The amplitudes of the OAEs of contralateral normal ears were found affected immediately after surgery and progressive improvement was detected with full recovery at 72-96 h. None of the patients had permanent deterioration in OAE amplitudes. The burs used during mastoid surgery can cause temporary hearing threshold changes in the contralateral ears. This adverse effect recovers spontaneously within 72-96 h postoperatively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Gaziantep University, Gaziantep, Turkey. erkaratas@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Erkan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Karatas
authors.forename: Murat Cem
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Miman
authors.forename: Orhan
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ozturan
authors.forename: Tamer
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Erdem
authors.forename: Mahmut Tayyar
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Kalcioglu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006317:Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008416:Mastoid / Q000601:surgery*; D008875:Middle Aged; D017084:Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous; D013506:Otologic Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects; D011183:Postoperative Complications