Cholesteatoma

Cholesteatoma is a benign growth that occurs in either the middle ear or in the petrous apex.  There are three different scenarios that can occur for a cholesteatoma can grow.  Chronic infection or severe trauma to the ear area can cause a cholesteatoma.  The chronic infection can be there since birth.  Some instance babies are born with extra skin which can become entrapped in the middle ear.  The most common occurrence of a cholesteatoma is an improperly functioning eustachian tube.  This tube serves as the canal that connects the middle ear to the back of the nose.  Equilibrium is adjusted here.  A ct scan of the temporal bone is the best way to demonstrate the very minute bones and pieces of the ear.  Also, an audiogram can be conducted to test the person's hearing.  Surgery can be performed to remove the cholesteatoma.  The extent of the surgery and the recovery time all depends on the size of the cholesteatoma.  The following is a picture of a cholesteatoma. 


image found at www.ent.com.hk/diagnosis/ear_diagnosis.html


Article used was:
http://www.earsite.com/tumors/cholesteatoma.html

CT head

I was doing CT clinicals one night and a patient came down from ICU.  Now the hospital that I work at and where I am doing my clinicals the ICU is wonderful.  However, the patients that are admitted to our ICU are extremely critical most of the time.  We scanned this patient's head and normally you would see all the sulcus.  Well, this patient's head images were different.  There was nothing there.  I had never seen this before because I am new to this, but this was very sad.  I was told this is due to the brain swelling and unfortunately this particular patient will probably not recover and will pass away before long.  I have been doing xrays for almost 2.5 years and I am used to people being very ill.  I think it takes a while to deal with knowing a patient you just dealt with will die very soon.