No abstract

Background: Cut throat injury is an incised wound in the neck that may be superficial or deep and is usually caused by sharp objects. These wounds may be from homicide, suicide, or accidental. Aims and Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess cut throat injury in terms of age, sex, site of injury, and triggering factors for suicidal cut throat injury. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was carried out in the Department of ENT, Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences. The study included 35 cut throat patients who were admitted and managed in the ENT department. Data were analyzed with detailed history as age, sex, cause, site of injury, sociodemographic pattern, and history of substance abuse, psychiatric problem, and duration of hospital stay. Results: Out of 35 patients, 32 were male and three were female. The majority of the patients 21 (60%) were young adults. Causes of cut throat were suicidal 77.14% followed by homicidal 20%. The majority of patients had Zone II injuries. In general, the patients belonged to the lower middle socioeconomic class. About 77.8% of patients with suicidal cases were found to be addicted to one more substance and 22.2% were having some psychiatric illness. The most common substance abuse was indigenous rice beer Hadia mahua. Conclusion: Young adults of the low socioeconomic class were most vulnerable to cut throat injury with a majority having zone II injury. Suicide was the most common cause with substance abuse proving to be a major provoking factor in addition to unemployment, illiteracy, and poverty.

Background: The objective of this study was to determine the clinical profile and risk factors associated in patients of mucormycosis in COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: It was a prospective observational study conducted at a tertiary care centre in the month of May and June 2021. It involved all patients of mucormycosis mainly involving paranasal sinuses and orbit. The clinical profile and associated risk factors leading to mucormycosis were studied.Results: Thirty patients of mucormycosis mean age 56.62 years out of them 25 (83.33%) male and 5 (16.66%) female were studied. Twenty-four patients (80%) had COVID-19 infection, out of them 7 (29.2%) were active and 17 (70.8%) had recovered within 4 weeks. Five (16.6%) patients were suspected as they had symptoms of COVID-19 previously   but never got tested. One   patient had no history of COVID infection. All the patients were diabetic at the time of presentation, out of them 26 (86.6%) of patients were known diabetic and 4 (13.3%) became diabetic after COVID-19 infection. The ethmoids were the most common sinuses affected. Intra-orbital extension was seen in 13 (43.3%) of cases   while intracranial extension was seen in 4 (13.3%) patients. Twenty-eight (93.3%) patients gave history of steroids intake. Antibiotics were taken by 76.6% patients while zinc supplement was used by 83.3% patients. Oxygen was used 10 (33.3%) patients, 80% of them using face mask or canula and 4 of them requiring mechanical ventilatory support.  Conclusions: The risk factors associated with mucormycosis in COVID pandemic must be given serious consideration as there is sudden increase in the case and mortality is very high. Uncontrolled diabetes and over use of steroids in COVID management are two main aggravating factors, however other factors must also be studied thoroughly.

Background:Outer hair cells (OHC) are most sensitive to extrinsic and intrinsic contaminants and can be irreversibly impaired. OAEs are a non invasive tool for assessing OHC dysfunction. Studies have shown that OAE can find SNHL in an early stage before it is obvious in PTA. It has also seen that there is a higher sensitivity of OAE than PTA for the diagnosis of individuals with high sensitivity to noise. Objective: This study was done with an aim to find the correlation between otoacoustic emission and pure tone audiometry for evaluating a case of presbycusis. Methods: A prospective study was done in a total of 150 patients who were selected from ENT OPD and ENT Ward of Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh after proper history and examination. Results: Data obtained from otoacoustic emission and audiometry were analysed and compared.It was found that otoacoustic emission can find SNHL in an early stage before it is obvious in PTA. It has also seen that there is a higher sensitivity of OAE than PTA for the diagnosis of individuals with high sensitivity to noise. Conclusion: With increase in the audiometric thresholds with age, there is statistically significant reduction or absence of OAEs.

Background: Tinnitus is a common ear problem and causes various somatic and psychological effects that has a bearing on the quality of life. Considerably high prevalence, distressing nature of the problem and the fact that it is associated with hearing impairment warrants an early recognition and appropriate timely intervention.Methods: A total of 120 patients (60 with tinnitus and 60 without tinnitus) were included in the study. Data of putative socio-demographic factors and clinical examination findings were collected on a semi-structured questionnaire.Results: The mean age of patients with tinnitus was 38.12±13.39 while that of patients without tinnitus was 40.85±15.26 (p=0.299). Around two-thirds (63.33%, 95% CI, 51.3–75.7%) of patients with tinnitus were males and the other one-third (36.67%, 95% CI, 24.3–48.7%) were females. Two-thirds (66.7%, 95% CI, 54.6–76.7%) of patients with tinnitus belonged to urban locality and the remaining one-third (33.3%, 95% CI, 23.3–45.4%) were from rural areas. On pure tone audiometry (PTA), hearing impairment was detected in 32 (53.3%, 95% CI, 42.0–68.3%) patients with tinnitus as compared to 13 (21.7%, 95% CI, 9.3–35.4%) patients without tinnitus.Conclusions: Tinnitus was associated with hearing loss in considerable proportion irrespective of patients’ own awareness of hearing loss. Therefore, patients should be educated regarding importance of seeking early healthcare. Although the benefits of available treatments are small, and the perception of tinnitus does not wane completely, it improves quality of life and reduces distress resulting from tinnitus.