title: Lightning strike: a rare cause of bilateral ossicular disruption.
abstract: Otologic injury associated with fatal and nonfatal lightning strikes has been sporadically reported in the literature. The most common acoustic insult is a conductive hearing loss secondary to rupture of the tympanic membrane. Although conjecture has been made of the theoretic possibility of ossicular injury from lightning strike, to our knowledge, none has been demonstrated intraoperatively or postmortem. We report the first documented case of ossicular disruption in a lightning-strike victim.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroradiology, St. Bartholomew and the Royal London Hospitals, West Smithfield, London, UK. curtisoffiah@yahoo.co.uk
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Offiah
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heran
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Graeb
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004432:Ear, Middle / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000293:injuries; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006314:Hearing Loss, Conductive / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D015168:Lightning Injuries / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008297:Male; D013701:Temporal Bone / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000293:injuries; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014432:Tympanic Membrane / Q000293:injuries