Ear, nose, & throat journal
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Case Reports
Acute dystonic reaction to general anesthesia with propofol and ondansetron: a graded response.
Propofol and ondansetron, alone and in combination, have been associated with acute dystonic reactions during recovery from anesthesia. We report the case of a 44-year-old woman who had undergone microlaryngoscopic fat injection to the vocal folds three times over a period of 10 months. Each procedure was performed by the same surgeon. ⋯ Following the first procedure, the patient experienced no reaction to these agents. However, she experienced a mild reaction after the second procedure and a severe acute dystonic reaction after the third. We believe this is the first report of a graded reaction to either propofol or ondansetron.
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We describe the case of a 36-year-old woman with a history of vitiligo who presented with an insidious onset of neurologic, vestibular, ocular, and auditory symptoms. She had recently noted the onset of vertigo, tinnitus, and hypersensitivity to sound. Findings on audiometry were within normal limits, although the patient reported some auditory discomfort during the testing. ⋯ She was diagnosed with Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) syndrome and started on corticosteroid therapy. Her neurologic, vestibular, ocular, and auditory symptoms resolved. VKH syndrome is an uncommon cause of vertigo and hearing loss, but it should be considered in the differential diagnosis of patients with autoimmunity-related inner ear symptoms.
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Case Reports
Spontaneous cervicofacial subcutaneous emphysema secondary to pneumomediastinum in an otherwise asymptomatic child.
A 12-year-old boy presented with subcutaneous emphysema of the face, neck, and upper chest. He had no significant history that suggested any specific cause, and initial investigations revealed no underlying pathology. ⋯ He was discharged 7 days after admission with a complete resolution of the emphysema. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of spontaneous pneumomediastinum presenting as cervicofacial swelling in a child without any other symptoms.
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Thyroid hematoma secondary to blunt trauma is uncommon, and no consensus exists for its management. We describe the case of a 46-year-old man who presented with neck swelling after he had sustained a blunt-trauma injury to his neck while playing soccer. Imaging revealed a large mass consistent with a thyroid hematoma. ⋯ Thyroid hematoma secondary to blunt trauma has been documented in normal thyroid glands and in glands with preexisting benign pathology, but to the best of our knowledge, no report associating this condition with a thyroid carcinoma has previously been reported in the literature. A neoplasm should be suspected in a case of thyroid hematoma that fails to resolve with conservative treatment. The management of this condition is surgeon- and case-specific, and the overall prognosis is good.
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Foreign bodies lodged in the nasopharynx are rare. We report a case of an unusual foreign body in the nasopharynx: a hooked iron rod. ⋯ The foreign body had to be removed under general anesthesia. To the best of our knowledge, there has been no similar published report of a hooked iron rod in the nasopharynx.