title: Penetrating vestibular injury due to a twig entering via the external auditory meatus.
abstract: We report a patient in whom a twig entered the vestibule via the external auditory meatus and was removed surgically. The patient was an 11-year-old boy who sustained a penetrating injury to his ear when he was rock climbing. Vertigo and hearing loss developed immediately. The vertigo improved over time. As it recurred, however, exploratory tympanotomy was performed 17 days after the accident. A piece of wood about 8 mm long was found to have penetrated the vestibule from in front of the stapes. This foreign body was removed and the vestibular fistula was closed. Although the patient's vertigo resolved after the operation, his hearing did not improve.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Nishishinbashi, Tokyo, Japan. kojimah@jikei.ac.jp
authors.forename: Hiromi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kojima
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Eri
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: Hirotaka
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Uchimizu
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Moriyama
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D004424:Ear Canal; D004432:Ear, Middle / Q000601:surgery*; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery*; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014717:Vertigo / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery; D014722:Vestibule, Labyrinth / Q000293:injuries*; D014950:Wounds, Penetrating / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery*