Here are some questions about perforations. You may need to read the tutorial on anatomical terms (Tutorial one) to get all the answers.

 

1. Imagine that you have a patient with a perforation that is discharging. They also have nasal discharge, loss of sense of smell and they sneeze a lot. What can you do to make them suitable for surgery?

 

2. What do the following words or descriptions mean?

a. Dimer

b. Myringoplasty

c. Central perforation

d. Baffle effect

e. Medial to the drum

f. Graft

 

3. Imagine you are the surgeon. Which of the patients described below is suitable for surgery?

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Give a reason why you would choose to operate on the patient OR a reason why you would not operate.

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a. A 35-year-old man with bilateral perforations that are actively infected. He has a conductive hearing loss in both ears.

 

b. A 40-year-old lady who has a perforation in her right ear. It is dry and has been uninfected for eight weeks. Her audiogram shows a 30dBHL conductive hearing loss in the right ear and an inner ear hearing loss in the left ear of 70dBHL.

 

c. A 3-year-old child with HIV who has dry ears that become wet every time he goes swimming. His hearing seems good.

 

d. A 15-year-old girl with normal hearing in both ears and a perforation in the left ear. The perforation becomes infected five times a year and is easy to treat with eardrops.

 

e. An 87-year-old lady with bilateral mixed hearing loss or equal severity and perforations in both ears. She has a left-sided hearing aid, which helps her hearing, but her ear becomes infected when she uses the aid for a few days. She has diabetes and hypertension.