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Traumatic fracture of the stapes suprastructure following minor head injury

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 March 2006

Shomeshwar Singh
Affiliation:
Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, Queen’s Hospital, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, UK.
Rami J. Salib
Affiliation:
Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, Queen’s Hospital, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, UK.
John Oates
Affiliation:
Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, Queen’s Hospital, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, UK.

Abstract

Abstract Traumatic fracture of the stapes occurs rarely following head injury. Ossiculardislocation is more commonly encountered. When present, stapes fractures are usually associated with an underlying temporal bone fracture. A higher incidence has been reported in childhood, possibly because of the greater flexibility of the skull in this age group. This report highlights the fact that these fractures can be associated with a relatively minor head injury. This possibility should be kept in mind when evaluating patients, especially children, who have a persistent conductive deafness of more than 30 dB with an intact tympanic membrane following any form of head injury. An exploratory tympanotomy with appropriate ossicular reconstruction, as described in this case, can yield excellent results.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© Royal Society of Medicine Press Limited 2002

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