Impairment of Quality of Life after Temporal Bone Fractures

Abstract

Temporal bone fractures (TBF) represent 14–22% of cranial fractures. The temporal bone is the thickest bone in the body, requiring excessive force to fracture; a TBF may occur in fresh human cadavers, when the applied force to the lateral skull is about 6000–8000 Newtons (equivalent to 600–800 Kilograms-force), increasing the risk of neurovascular injury. Conventionally, TBFs are categorized into longitudinal, transverse, and mixed types, depending on the direction of the fracture line. The complications of TBF include facial nerve palsy (FP), audiovestibular dyfunction, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak. All these sequels of TBFs may adversely affect the quality of life (QOL) with a psychological, emotional, and social impact. To our knowledge, the number of studies referring to QOL in patients suffering from TBF are very restricted. In this chapter, we elaborate on patient-assessed outcomes following TBF in relation to audiovestibular symptoms, apart from FP in adjunct with neurophysiological tests. Our aim to describe their impact on patients’ QoL.