No abstract

Background: Many children do not complain of tinnitus spontaneously. Tinnitus in the pediatric age group is an overlooked symptom. It has not received much attention in the pediatric age group than adult age. Children rarely complain spontaneously of tinnitus but present it when questioned. Objective of the study was to assess tinnitus in the pediatric age group with or without hearing impairment and its severity.Methods: This is a cross-sectional study on the children in the age group of 5 to 18 years who attended our tertiary care teaching hospital for evaluation of hearing impairment. The characteristics and severity of the self-reported tinnitus were collected by asking a questionnaire. The hearing assessment was done by performing pure tone audiometry. The frequencies of 250,500,1000,4000, and 8000 Hz were used in pure tone audiometry during the evaluation of hearing.Results: There were 172 children enrolled in this study and 104 made a self-report of tinnitus. Out of 104 children that self-reported tinnitus showed hearing loss in 67 (64.42%) cases. Different characteristics of tinnitus documented such as ringing (n=38; 36.53%), buzzing (n=21; 20.19%), wheezing (n=15; 14.42%) rustling (n=13;12.50%), beating (n=5;4.80%) and chirping (n=3;2.88%).Conclusions: Tinnitus in the pediatric age group affects their social interactions and learning. Tinnitus in children should be detected early and managed appropriately for avoiding the adverse consequences of tinnitus on a child’s health and wellbeing.

<p class="abstract">The anterior inferior cerebellar artery arises at the cerebellopontine angle (CPA), usually from the lower one third of the basilar artery. However, the vascular anatomy of the anterior inferior cerebellar artery (AICA) is highly variable. In respect to the neurovascular relationship in the internal auditory canal (IAC), the AICA is intimately related with vestibulocochlear and facial nerve. Microvascular compression of the vestibulocochlear nerve by AICA is an important etiology for tinnitus, hearing loss and vertigo. The vascular loop or aneurysm of the AICA will compress the vestibulocochlear nerve in the internal auditory canal. The AICA loop should be separated from the vestibulocochlear nerve. Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) is helpful to reveal the vascular pathology of the AICA and confirm the causes for disabling otological symptoms. After confirmation of the vascular pathology of AICA, surgery is usually planned. The intrameatal AICA and vestibulocochlear nerve conflict produce specific pathological features and their surgical treatment is also invariably challenging. The objective of this review article is to discuss the details of vascular anatomy, etiopathology, clinical presentations, diagnosis, neurophysiology and current treatment of the vascular anomalies of AICA in IAC which often pose challenge to the clinicians.</p>

A rare case of extramedullary plasmacytoma of maxillary sinus in a 58-year-old man presenting with right-sided nasal obstruction and intermittent blood tinged nasal crusting. Nasal endoscopy revealed that a dark red colored mass arising from the lateral wall of nose. A biopsy specimen was diagnosed as plasmacytoma (Kappa light chain type). Serum and urine electrophoresis failed to detect any myeloma component or Bence-Jones protein. All other screening tests to rule out multiple myeloma were negative. These findings confirmed the diagnosis of extramedullary plasmacytoma. The mass was completely excised by lateral rhinotomy approach. No recurrence has been noted at the end of 6 months follow-up.

Primary malignant melanoma is rarely seen in the oral cavity, especially in the tongue. However, the base of the tongue is an extremely rare location for primary malignant melanoma. A 68-year-old male attended the otorhinolaryngology clinic with complaint of foreign-body sensation in the throat for 1 year. Intraoral examination showed a painless and black-colored mass on the right side of the base of the tongue. Histopathology report showed the diagnosis of a malignant melanoma. He underwent composite resection of the tumor and right-sided functional neck dissection. Early diagnosis should be made by proper examination of the oral cavity and oropharynx and early biopsy of the pigmented and nonpigmented mass. Early detection and treatment is required for better prognosis of the malignant melanoma at the base of tongue.