Patología nasosinusal benigna en el adulto mayor

Nasal symptoms are a major health problem for elderly people and affect their quality of life. Inflammatory conditions and influence of age on nasal physiology determine its pathogenesis. Changes of immune function, structural characteristics of nasal mucus and moisture, as well as alterations of mucociliary clearance and nasal air flow are present in these patients. Among the most prevalent diseases are sinonasal rhinitis, both allergic and non allergic, epistaxis, decreased olfactory function and rhinophyma, final stage of rosacea. Improving our understanding of the pathophysiology behind these disorders, allow us to make a proper assessment of these patients and develop effective therapies to give them proper solution, thus improving their quality of life

Neuroprótesis en Otorrinolaringología: más allá del implante coclear.

Neuroprosthesis or brain-machine interfaces are electronic devices created to directly interact with the nervous system for replacing an absent or damaged sensory or motor function. Three types of auditory neuroprosthetics devices have been developed in Otolaryngology, (i) cochlear implants, (ii) brainstem auditory implants and (iii) auditory midbrain implants. These devices allow young deaf children to acquire oral language and to restore auditory function in deafened adults. On the other hand, a new vestibular prosthesis that could be useful for patients with severe disequilibrium has been developed. Main characteristics and clinical utility of these prostheses are reviewed in this article

Mucoceles de cavidades paranasales: Experiencia en el Hospital Barros Luco-Trudeau

Introducción: Los mucoceles son pseudotumores expansivos de las cavidades paranasales, cuyos síntomas están dados por su crecimiento expansivo. El tratamiento tradicional ha sido la extracción quirúrgica por vía externa, siendo desplazado en las últimas décadas por la resección endoscópica. Objetivo: Evaluar la experiencia en nuestro servicio sobre el diagnóstico y tratamiento de los mucoceles. Material y método: Revisión retrospectiva de pacientes tratados por mucocele en el Servicio de Otorrinolaringología, entre 2002y 2013. Se describen características clínico-demográficas, métodos diagnósticos, tratamiento y aparición de recidivas. Resultados: Se analizaron 45pacientes con seguimiento promedio de 24,93 meses. El 51,11% correspondió al sexo masculino. La edad promedio fue 49,68 años. El 46,6% fueron mucoceles fronto-etmoidales (6 frontales, 6 etmoidales y 9 fronto-etmoidales), el resto en seno maxilar, con un periodo de latencia de 7,33 meses. Los síntomas más frecuentes fueron oftalmológicos (55,5%) como proptosis y diplopía, mientras que el 51,1% de los pacientes tenía antecedentes de rinosinusitis crónica. El tratamiento fue mediante resección endoscópica en el 66,22%, por vía abierta 31,1% y manejo combinado en 6,66%. Hubo 8 casos recidivados, que representan el 17,7% de la serie. Discusión: Nuestra casuística resultó semejante a otras series publicadas. En los últimos años se ha preferido el abordaje endoscópico, sin embargo, el abordaje externo o combinado siguen siendo claves en el manejo de mucoceles extensos o para tratar recidivas. La aparición potencialmente tardía de recidivas requiere un tiempo de seguimiento largo para estos pacientes. Conclusiones: Los mucoceles representan un desafío diagnóstico y terapéutico y el manejo endoscópico parece una alternativa segura en el manejo de mucoceles que no comprometan órbita o tengan extensión craneal

Dehiscencia del canal semicircular superior, un nuevo diagnóstico en pacientes con vértigo

Introduction: The superior semicircular canal dehiscence syndrome (SSCD) is a pathology described in 1998, which presents several symptoms including sound induced vertigo, hearing loss and autophony due to bone dehiscence of this semicircular canal. Material and Methods: A retrospective and descriptive study was carried out, reviewing the medical records of patients with computed tomography suggestive of SSCD between 2006 and 2010 from the Radiology department of the Clinical Hospital of the University of Chile. Results: We obtained six cases of SSCD (4 female) with a mean age of 52.7 years. SSCD was observed in four cases bilaterally and in two cases on the left ear. We confirmed a clinical syndrome in two patients, based on the presence of hearing loss and sound induced vertigo. Conclusions: The diagnosis of SSCD syndrome should be supported on both clinical and imaging studies. We should maintain a high level of suspicion, particularly in cases of sound induced vertigo and of conductive hearing loss with normal otoscopy

Persistent Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium Infection Increases the Susceptibility of Mice to Develop Intestinal Inflammation

Chronic intestinal inflammations are triggered by genetic and environmental components. However, it remains unclear how specific changes in the microbiota, host immunity, or pathogen exposure could promote the onset and exacerbation of these diseases. Here, we evaluated whether Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) infection increases the susceptibility to develop intestinal inflammation in mice. Two mouse models were used to evaluate the impact of S. Typhimurium infection: the chemical induction of colitis by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) and interleukin (IL)-10−/− mice, which develop spontaneous intestinal inflammation. We observed that S. Typhimurium infection makes DSS-treated and IL-10−/− mice more susceptible to develop intestinal inflammation. Importantly, this increased susceptibility is associated to the ability of S. Typhimurium to persist in liver and spleen of infected mice, which depends on the virulence proteins secreted by Salmonella Pathogenicity Island 2-encoded type three secretion system (TTSS-2). Although immunization with a live attenuated vaccine resulted in a moderate reduction of the IL-10−/− mice susceptibility to develop intestinal inflammation due to previous S. Typhimurium infection, it did not prevent bacterial persistence. Our results suggest that persistent S. Typhimurium infection may increase the susceptibility of mice to develop inflammation in the intestine, which could be associated with virulence proteins secreted by TTSS-2