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DISEASES OF THE See also:EAR
See also:Modern scientific aural See also:surgery and See also:medicine (commonly known as Otology) See also:dates from the See also:time of See also:Sir See also: Knapp, See also:Clarence J. See also:Blake, See also:Albert H. See also:Buck and Charles See also:Burnett. Other workers all over the See also:world are too numerous to mention. Various Diseases and Injuries.—Diseases of the ear may affect any of the three divisions, the See also:external, See also:middle or See also:internal ear. The commoner affections of the See also:auricle are See also:eczema, various tumours (See also:simple and See also:malignant), and serous and sebaceous cysts. Haematoma auris (othaematoma), or effusion of See also:blood into the auricle, is often due to injury, but may occur spontaneously, especially in insane persons. The See also:chief diseases of the external auditory See also:canal are as follows:—impacted cerumen (or See also:wax), circumscribed (or furuncular) inflammation, diffuse inflammation, strictures due to inflammatory affections, bony growths, See also:fungi (otomycosis), malignant disease, See also:caries and See also:necrosis, and See also:foreign bodies. Diseases of the middle ear fall into two categories, suppurative and non-suppurative (i.e. with and without the formation of pus). Suppurative inflammation of the middle ear is either acute or chronic, and is in either See also:case accompanied by perforation of the See also:drum See also:head and See also:discharge from the ear. The chief importance of these affections, in addition to the symptoms of See also:pain, deafness, discharge, &c., is the serious complications which may ensue from their neglect, viz. aural polypi, caries and necrosis of the See also:bone, affections of the mastoid See also:process, including the mastoid antrum, See also:paralysis of the facial See also:nerve, and the still more serious intracranial and vascular infective diseases, such as See also:abscess in the See also:brain (cerebrum or cerebellum), See also:meningitis, with subdural and extradural abscesses, septic thrombosis of the sigmoid and other venous sinuses, and pyaemia. It is owing to the possibility of these complications that See also:life See also:insurance companies usually, and rightly, inquire as to the presence of ear discharge before accepting a life. Patterson Cassells of See also:Glasgow urged this See also:special point as long ago as 1877. Acute suppurative disease of the middle ear is often due to the exanthemata, scarlatina, See also:measles and smallpox, and to bathing and diving. It may also be caused by See also:influenza, See also:diphtheria and pulmonary See also:phthisis. Non-suppurative disease of the middle ear may be acute or chronic. In the acute See also:form the inflammation is less violent than in the acute suppurative inflammation, and is rarely accompanied by perforation. Chronic non-suppurative inflammation may be divided into the moist form, in which the symptoms are improved by inflation of the tympanum through the Eustachian See also:tube, and the dry form (including sclerosis), which is more in-tractable and in which this See also:procedure has little or no beneficial effect. Diseases of the internal ear may be See also:primary or secondary to an See also:affection of the tympanum or to intracranial disease. Injuries to any See also:part of the ear may occur, among the commoner being injuries to the auricle, rupture of the drum head (from explosions, blows on the ear or the introduction of See also:sharp bodies into the ear canal), and injuries from fractured See also:skull. Congenital malformations of the ear are most frequently met with in the auricle and external canal. Methods of Examination.—The methods of examining the ear are roughly threefold: (1) Testing the See also:hearing with See also:watch, See also:voice and tuning-See also:fork. The latter is especially used to distinguish between disease of the middle ear (conducting apparatus) and that of the internal ear (perceptive apparatus). Our knowledge of the subject has been brought to its See also:present See also:state by the labours of many observers, notably Weber, Rinne, See also:Schwabach, Lucae and See also:Celle. (2) Examination of the canal and drum-head with See also:speculum and reflector, introduced by Kramer, Wilde and von Troltsch. (3) Examination of the drum-cavity through the Eustachian tube by the various methods of inflation. Symptoms.—The chief symptoms of ear diseases are deafness, noises in the ear (tinnitus aurium), giddiness, pain and discharge. Deafness (or other disturbance of hearing) and noises may occur from disease in almost any part of the gar. Purulent discharge usually comes from the middle ear. Giddiness is more commonly associated With affections of the internal ear. Treatment.—Ear diseases are treated on See also:ordinary surgical and medical lines, due regard being had to the anatomical and physiological peculiarities of this organ of sense, and especially to its See also:close relationship, on the one See also:hand to the See also:nose and naso-pharynx, and on the other hand to the cranium and its contents. The chief advance in aural surgery in See also:recent years has been in the surgery of the mastoid process and antrum. The pioneers of this work were H. Schwartze of See also:Halle, and Stacke of See also:Erfurt, who have been followed by a See also:host of workers in all parts of the world. This development led to increased See also:attention being paid to the intracranial complications of suppurative ear disease, in the treatment of which great strides have been made in the last few years. Effects of Diseases of the Nose on the Ear.—The See also:influence of diseases of the nose and naso-pharynx on ear diseases was brought out by Loewenberg of See also:Paris, Voltolini of See also:Breslau, and especially by Wilhelm See also:Meyer of See also:Copenhagen, the discoverer of adenoid vegetations of the naso-pharynx (" See also:adenoids "), who recognized the great importance of this disease and gave an inimitable See also:account of it in the Trans. of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of See also:London, 187o, and the Archiv See also:fur Ohrenheilkunde, 1873. Adenoid vegetations, which consist of an abnormal enlargement of Luschka's tonsil in the vault of the pharynx, frequently give rise to ear disease in See also:children, and, if not attended to, See also:lay the foundation of nasal and ear troubles in after life. They are often associated with enlargement of the faucial tonsils.
See also:Journals.—In 1864 the Archiv fur Ohrenheilkunde was started by Politzer and Schwartze, and, in 1867, the Monatsschrift .fur Ohrenheilkunde (a monthly publication) was founded by Voltolini, Gruber, Weber-Liel and Rudinger. Appearing first as the Archives of See also:Ophthalmology and Otology, simultaneously in See also:English and See also:German, in 1869, the Archives of Otology became a See also:separate publication under the editorship of Knapp, Moos and Roosa in 1879. Amongst other )ournals now existing are Annales See also:des maladies de l'oreille et du larynx (Paris), See also:Journal of Laryngology (London), Centralblatt fur Ohrenheilkunde (See also:Leipzig), &c.
See also:Societies.—The earliest society formed was the See also:American Otological Society (1868), which held See also:annual meetings and published yearly transactions. Flourishing societies for the study of otology (sometimes combined with laryngology) exist in almost all civilized countries, and they usually publish transactions consisting of See also:original papers and cases. The Otological Society of the See also:United See also:Kingdom was founded in 1900.
See also:International Congresses.—International Otological congresses have been held at intervals of about four years at New See also:York, See also:Milan, See also:Basel, See also:Brussels, See also:Florence, London and See also:Bordeaux (1904). The See also:pro-.ceedings of the congresses appear as substantial volumes.
Hospitals.—The earliest See also:record of a public institution for the treatment of ear diseases is a Dispensary for Diseases of the See also:Eye and Ear in London, started by Saunders and See also: At the present time in every large See also:town of See also:Europe and America ear diseases are treated either in separate departments of See also:general hospitals or in institutions especially devoted to the purpose. For a history of otology from the earliest times refer to A See also:Practical See also:Treatise on the Diseases of the Ear, by D. B. St John Roosa, M.D., LL.D. (6th edition, New York. 1885). and for a general account ofthe present state of otological See also:science to A See also:Text-Book of the Diseases of the Ear for Students and Practitioners, by See also:Professor Dr See also:Adam Politzer, transl. by See also:Milton J. Ballin, Ph.B., M.D., and Clarence J. See also:Heller, M.D. (4th edition, London, 1902). (E. C. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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