Oto Primary Care FINALhigh

ENT EMERGENCIES

available balloons to stop the nosebleed. Patients who undergo anterior

packing on one side may go home. However, if bilateral nasal packing is

used or a posterior pack is placed, patients will need to be admitted to the

hospital and carefully watched, because they can suffer from hypoventila-

tion and oxygen desaturation. In general, the packing is left in place for

three to five days and removed. During this time, prophylactic oral or par-

enteral antibiotics should be administered to decrease risk of infectious

complications. If the patient re-bleeds, the packing should be replaced,

and arterial ligation, endoscopic cautery, or embolization can be consid-

ered. As always, these patients should be worked up for bleeding disor-

ders. A patient with a severe nosebleed can develop hypovolemia, or sig-

nificant anemia, if fluid is being replaced. These conditions necessitate

increased cardiac output, which can lead to ischemia or infarction of the

heart itself.

Necrotizing Otitis Externa

“Malignant” otitis externa is an old name for what should more appropri-

ately be called necrotizing otitis externa. This is a severe infection of the

external auditory canal, usually caused by

Pseudomonas

organisms. The

infection spreads to the temporal bone and, as such, is really an osteomy-

elitis of the temporal bone. This can extend readily to the base of the skull

and lead to fatal complications if it is not adequately treated. This disease

occurs most commonly in older patients with diabetes, and can occur in

AIDS patients. Any patient with otitis externa should be asked about the

possibility of diabetes. It can be caused by traumatic instrumentation or

irrigating wax from the ears of patients with diabetes. Patients with necro-

tizing otitis externa present with deep ear pain, temporal headaches, puru-

lent drainage and granulation tissue at the area of the bony cartilaginous

junction in the external auditory canal and facial nerve followed by other

cranial neuropathies in severe cases.

To diagnose an actual infection in the bone (which is the

sine qua non

this disease), a computed tomography (CT) scan of the bone, with bone

windows, must be obtained. A technetium bone scan will also demon-

strate a “hot spot,” but is too sensitive to discriminate between severe otitis

externa and true osteomyelitis. The standard therapy is meticulous glucose

control, aural hygiene, including frequent ear cleaning, systemic and topi-

cal antipseudomonal antibiotics, and hyperbaric oxygen in severe cases

that do not respond to standard care. Quinolones are the drugs of choice

because they are active against

Pseudomonas

organisms.