Prognosis and Outcomes of Pneumolabyrinth Following an Otic-Capsule Violating Fracture: A Case Report

Document Type : Case report

Authors

1 King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Science

2 Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery Department King Abdulaziz Medical City, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: Pneumolabyrinth consequent to a temporal bone fracture is a rare entity. It occurs when air enters the vestibulocochlear system due to a pathological communication between the middle and the inner ears. The diagnosis is usually confirmed radiologically using high-resolution computed tomography imaging. Pneumolabyrinth is categorized radiologically as follows: vestibular pneumolabyrinth, cochlear pneumolabyrinth and combined pneumolabyrinth.
Case Presentation: We herein describe the clinical presentation and management of pneumolabyrinth in a 43-year-old man, following an otic capsule-violating temporal bone fracture. After initially caring for the patient conservatively, without improvement, surgical intervention was undertaken. Unfortunately, hearing was irrecoverable.
Conclusion: Delaying medical and surgical intervention and the location of the air bubbles associated with the combined type contribute to the irrecoverable loss of hearing. As otic capsule-violating fractures might not be observed initially on brain CT scans, high-resolution and thin-slice CT scans of the temporal bone is crucial when suspecting temporal bone fracture.

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