Task force of the Brazilian Society of Otology - evaluation and management of peripheral facial palsy

OBJECTIVE

To review key evidence-based recommendations for the diagnosis and treatment of peripheral facial palsy in children and adults.

METHODS

Task force members were educated on knowledge synthesis methods, including electronic database search, review and selection of relevant citations, and critical appraisal of selected studies. Articles written in English or Portuguese on peripheral facial palsy were eligible for inclusion. The American College of Physicians' guideline grading system and the American Thyroid Association's guideline criteria were used for critical appraisal of evidence and recommendations for therapeutic interventions.

RESULTS

The topics were divided into 2 main parts: (1) Evaluation and diagnosis of facial palsy: electrophysiologic tests, idiopathic facial palsy, Ramsay Hunt syndrome, traumatic peripheral facial palsy, recurrent peripheral facial palsy, facial nerve tumors, and peripheral facial palsy in children; and (2) Rehabilitation procedures: surgical decompression of the facial nerve, facial nerve grafting, surgical treatment of long-term peripheral facial palsy, and non-surgical rehabilitation of the facial nerve.

CONCLUSIONS

Peripheral facial palsy is a condition of diverse etiology. Treatment should be individualized according to the cause of facial nerve dysfunction, but the literature presents better evidence-based recommendations for systemic corticosteroid therapy.

Comparison of Oropharyngeal Dysphagia in Brazilian Children with Prenatal Exposure to Zika Virus, With and Without Microcephaly

Severe brain damage associated with Zika-related microcephaly (ZRM) have been reported to result in oropharyngeal dysphagia (OPD); however, it is unknown if OPD presents in children with prenatal Zika virus (ZIKV) exposure but only mild or undetectable abnormalities. The aims of this study were: to compare the frequency and characteristics of OPD in children with ZRM and in children without microcephaly born to mothers who tested polymerase chain reaction positive (PCR+) for ZIKV during pregnancy; and to investigate the concordance of caregiver reports of OPD with the diagnosis from the clinical swallowing assessment (CSA). Between Mar/2017 and May/2018, we evaluated 116 children (n = 58 with microcephaly, n = 58 children without microcephaly born to ZIKV PCR + mothers) participating in the Microcephaly Epidemic Research Group (MERG) cohort of children born during the 2015–2016 ZIKV epidemic in Pernambuco, Brazil. To assess OPD we used: a CSA; a clinical assessment of the stomatognathic system; and a questionnaire administered to caregivers. The frequency of OPD was markedly higher in children with ZRM (79.3%) than in the exposed but normocephalic group (8.6%). The children with microcephaly also presented more frequently with anatomic and functional abnormalities in the stomatognathic system. There was a high degree of agreement between the caregiver reports of OPD and the CSA (κ = 0.92). In conclusion, our findings confirm that OPD is a feature of Congenital Zika Syndrome that primarily occurs in children with microcephaly and provide support for policies in which children are referred for rehabilitation with an OPD diagnosis based on caregiver report.

Auditory processing performance in blind people

Abstract

Hearing has an important role in human development and social adaptation in blind people.

Objective

To evaluate the performance of temporal auditory processing in blind people; to characterize the temporal resolution ability; to characterize the temporal ordinance ability and to compare the performance of the study population in the applied tests.

Methods

Fifteen blind adults participated in this study. A cross-sectional study was undertaken; approval was obtained from the Pernambuco Catholic University Ethics Committee, no. 003/2008.

Results

Temporal auditory processing was excellent - the average composed threshold in the original RGDT version was 4.98 ms; it was 50 ms for all frequencies in the expanded version. PPS and DPS results ranged from 95% to 100%. There were no quantitative differences in the comparison of tests; but oral reports suggested that the original RGDT original version was more difficult.

Conclusion

The study sample performed well in temporal auditory processing; it also performed well in temporal resolution and ordinance abilities.

Conhecimento de ginecologistas e pediatras de hospitais públicos do Recife a respeito dos fatores de risco para surdez

Hearing is one of the main forms of connection between human being and the environment; however, hearing loss is still diagnosed very late in Brazil, which directly interferes with the child's development.

Aim

The aim of this study was to check the knowledge pediatricians and gynecologists have about the risk factors for the deafness, the way they acquired such knowledge and parent education about the subject.

Materials and Methods

We enrolled 119 doctors from three public hospitals of the city of Recife. An interview was applied, before and after the educational campaign on the matter. The study was descriptive, cross-sectional, case series-type. Data analysis was descriptive and inferential.

Results

The results showed that only 3 of the 18 hearing loss risk factors listed had gotten answers above 50% in the initial stage of the study and 53.84% of the professionals educated the families. All the answers had increased in the second stage.

Conclusion

The results emphasize the need to pay more attention to this matter; therefore, primary care is an inexpensive and efficient way to fight hearing loss.

Myringosclerosis in patients with chronic renal failure: comparative analysis with a control group

Myringosclerosis is a scar of the tympanic membrane lamina propria, resulting from trauma or inflammation, characterized by proliferation of collagen, hyalinization, calcium and phosphate deposits and cartilaginous or osseous metaplasia of the middle ear mucosa, a sequence that is similar to that taking place in other types of pathologic calcification, common in chronic renal failure (CRF).

Aim

To verify the influence of chronic renal failure on the prevalence of myringosclerosis.

Method

The otoscopic examination was done in 341 chronic renal failure patients and in 356 normal control individuals. The frequency of positive otoscopies was compared between the two groups, based on individual variables and those pertaining to CRF.

Results

11.7% of the patients had a positive otoscopy in the CRF group, compared to 5.1% in the control group. There was no statistical diference in the frequency of myringosclerosis acording to gender, ethnic group, time of dialysis or serum minerals. The groups had a wide age range.

Conclusion

Although the findings of this study suggest a higher ocurrence of myringosclerosis in patients with renal disease, they do not provide a basis for stating that there is any relation between renal failure and tympanic alterations.

Profile of hospitalizations due to otorhinolaryngologic morbidity requiring surgical treatment. Brazil, 2003

Aim

To analyze the profile of the surgical procedures related to otorhinolaryngology in Brazil in the year 2003.

Study Design

This was an observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study.

Methods

We analyzed 80,030 surgical procedures performed in 27 Brazilian States during the period from January to December 2003. The data were obtained from the Hospital Information System of the Ministry of Health. The inclusion factor was a surgical procedure in otorhinolaryngology (ORL). All files were processed with the TABWIN software.

Results

In 2003, 80,030 ORL-related surgical procedures were performed in Brazil. The Southeast region had the largest number of procedures (53.08%), followed by the South and Northeast regions (19.6% and 15.6%, respectively). Regarding the group of procedures, surgeries of the pharynx represented 45% of ORL procedures. Procedures of high complexity were more numerous in the ear surgery group. Regarding the distribution of the type of attending institution, the highest concentration of surgical procedures occurred in philanthropic hospitals, followed by state and university public hospitals. The table adopted by SUS for payment of ORL surgical procedures has not been updated for the procedures currently performed, with the consequent inappropriate notification of some types of surgery.

Conclusion

Knowledge about the profile of surgical hospitalizations related to ORL permits the identification of the peculiarities of the different regions that can help health-managing authorities to make decisions in order to guarantee the principles recommended by SUS regarding access to health services.