title: Temporal bone fractures: evaluation of 77 patients and a management algorithm.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We aimed to evaluate the etiologies, otolaryngological features, radiological findings, management strategies, and outcomes of temporal bone fractures.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy-seven temporal bone fracture cases were retrospectively evaluated for age and gender distribution, side of the fracture, etiology of injuries, the presence of blood otorrhea, tympanic membrane perforation, cerebrospinal fluid otorrhea, hearing loss, hemotympanum, and facial or other cranial nerve palsies, and computerized tomography reports.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nearly 55% of the cases were caused by traffic accidents and were predominantly male (76.6%). Otolaryngological  presentations in order to frequency were early conductive hearing loss (65.8%), blood otorrhea (61.2%), hemotympanum (58.5%), tympanic membrane perforation (25.6%), facial nerve paralysis (12.3%), cerebrospinal fluid otorrhea (8.5%), and sensorineural hearing loss (5.4%). Most of the fractures were petrous (65.8%) and longitudinal type (51.2%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this research, otolaryngological findings in order of frequency and treatment approaches were compared with literature findings and discussed in 77 temporal bone fracture cases. We formed a management algorithm for the systematic evaluation and treatment of temporal fractures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Ankara Atatürk Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey. gkhnyalciner@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Gökhan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yalçıner
authors.forename: Ahmet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kutluhan
authors.forename: Kazım
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bozdemir
authors.forename: Hüseyin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cetin
authors.forename: Behçet
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tarlak
authors.forename: Akif Sinan
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Bilgen
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls; D000062:Accidents, Occupational; D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000465:Algorithms; D002558:Cerebrospinal Fluid Otorrhea / Q000209:etiology; D002648:Child; D003389:Cranial Nerve Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D005158:Facial Paralysis / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012887:Skull Fractures / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D013701:Temporal Bone / Q000293:injuries*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D018058:Tympanic Membrane Perforation / Q000209:etiology; D055815:Young Adult