Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-qsmjn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T22:03:58.676Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Pierre Robin syndrome: characteristics of hearing loss, effect of age on hearing level and possibilities in therapy planning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2007

Jadranka Handžić-Ćuk*
Affiliation:
Department of Otolaryngology, Clinical Hospital ‘Sisters of Misericardiae’, Zagreb University Clinical Hospital Centre Šalata, Dubrava, Croatia
Višeslav Ćuk
Affiliation:
Department of Otolaryngology, Clinical Hospital ‘Sisters of Misericardiae’, Zagreb University Clinical Hospital Centre Šalata, Dubrava, Croatia
Ranko Rišavi
Affiliation:
Department of Otolaryngology, Clinical Hospital ‘Sisters of Misericardiae’, Zagreb University Clinical Hospital Centre Šalata, Dubrava, Croatia
Vladimir Katić
Affiliation:
Department of Otolaryngology, Clinical Hospital ‘Sisters of Misericardiae’, Zagreb University Clinical Hospital Centre Šalata, Dubrava, Croatia
Damir Katušić
Affiliation:
Department of Otolaryngology, University Clinical Hospital Centre Rebro, Dubrava, Croatia
Marijo Bagatin
Affiliation:
Department of Otolaryngology, Clinic for Maxillofacial Surgery, Dubrava, Croatia
Smiljana Štajner-Katušić
Affiliation:
Department of Otolaryngology, University Clinical Hospital, Dubrava, Croatia
Damir Gortan
Affiliation:
Department of Otolaryngology, Clinical Hospital ‘Sisters of Misericardiae’, Zagreb University Clinical Hospital Centre Šalata, Dubrava, Croatia
*
Address for correspondence: Dr Jadranka Handžić-Ćuk, Ear, Nose and Throat Department, (KBC-ORL Šalata), Zagreb University Clinical Hospital Centre, Šalata 4, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia. Fax: +385-1-424-001 or +385-1-443-469

Abstract

Hearing loss was studied in 22 patients with Pierre Robin syndrome (PRS) aged three to 12 years (median 5.0 years). The results were compared to those obtained in 62 patients with isolated cleft palate (ICP) aged one to 27 years (median 5.5 years). Hearing loss was more frequently found in PRS (73.3 per cent) than in ICP (58.1 per cent) patients (p = 0.02). PRS patients had more ears with moderate (21–40 dB) and severe (>40 dB) hearing loss, disturbing their social contact, with no tendency to normalization with age (Spearman r = 0.065). In contrast to PRS, ICP patients showed a significant tendency to hearing level normalization with ageing (Spearman r = −0.453; p = 0.001). Planigraphs of temporal bones showed inadequately developed pneumatization of the mastoid bone in all PRS patients and in most ICP patients. No malformation of the inner or middle ear was found in either group. PRS patients have a significantly higher risk of conductive hearing loss than those with ICP. Use of tympanostomy (ventilation) tubes is therapy of choice in patients with Pierre Robin syndrome, and it should be introduced as early as possible, even at the same time as palatoplasty.

Type
Main Articles
Copyright
Copyright © JLO (1984) Limited 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, D. A. (1987) The causes of deafness. In Scott-Brown's Otolaryngology, Vol. 5. Paediatric otolaryngology. (Kerr, A. G., ed.) Butterworths Ltd, London, pp. 3553.Google Scholar
Bluestone, C. D., Witel, R. A., Paradise, J. L. (1972) Roentgenographic evaluation of Eustachian tube in infants with cleft and normal palates. Cleft Palate Journal 9: 93100.Google ScholarPubMed
Cohen, M. (1976) The Robin anomalad – its nonspecificity and associated syndromes. Journal of Oral Surgery 34: 587593.Google ScholarPubMed
Doyle, W. J., Kitajiri, M., Sandi, I. (1983) The anatomy of the auditory tube and paratubal musculature in a one month old cleft palate infant. Cleft Palate Journal 20: 218226.Google Scholar
Drettner, B. (1952) The nasal airway and hearing in patients with cleft palate. Acta Otolaryngologica 20: 131142.Google Scholar
Fraser, G. R. (1976) The Causes of Profound Deafness in Childhood. Baillière Tindall-Macmillan Publishers Ltd., London, pp 139144.Google Scholar
Handžić, J., Suboti´c, R., Šprem, N., Bagatin, M. (1989) Hearing thresholds in cleft lip or palate patients. Chirurgia Maxillofacialis et Plastica 19(13): 1923.Google ScholarPubMed
Handžić, J., Bagatin, M., Suboti´c, R., Ćuk, V. (1995) Hearing levels in Pierre Robin syndrome. Cleft Palate Journal 32: 3036.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jerger, J. (1970) Clinical experience with impedance audiometry. Archives of Otolaryngology 92: 311324.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jonas, I., Mann, W., Münker, G., Junker, W., Schumann, K. (1978) Relationship between tubal function, craniofacial morphology and disorder of deglutition. Archives of Otology, Rhinology and Laryngology 218: 151162.Google Scholar
Latham, R. A., Long, R. E., Latham, E. A. (1980) Cleft palate velopharyngeal musculature in five month old infant: three dimensional histological reconstruction. Cleft Palate Journal 17: 116.Google Scholar
Randall, P., Bakes, F. P., Kennedy, C. (1960) Cleft palate-type speech in the absence of cleft palate. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 25: 484.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Skolnik, E. M. (1958) Otologic evaluation in cleft palate patients. Laryngoscope 68: 19081959.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stark, R. B., Kaplan, J. M. (1973) Development of the cleft lip nose. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 51: 413415.Google Scholar
Young, A. (1968) The state of ears in children with cleft palate deformity. Journal of Laryngology and Otology 82: 707715.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed