Chapter 22 TEMPORAL BONE FRACTURES
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Temporal Bone Fractures Chapter 22 TEMPORAL BONE FRACTURES † CARLOS R. ESQUIVEL, MD,* AND NICHOLAS J. SCALZITTI, MD INTRODUCTION INITIAL EVALUATION FRACTURE CLASSIFICATION RADIOGRAPHIC EVALUATION MANAGEMENT OF INJURIES Facial Nerve Injury Hearing Loss Cerebrospinal Fluid Leak and Use of Antibiotic Therapy SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR WARTIME INJURIES Acute Management CASE PRESENTATIONS Case Study 22-1 Case Study 22-2 *Lieutenant Colonel (Retired), Medical Corps, US Air Force; Clinical Director, Department of Defense, Hearing Center of Excellence, Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgical Center, 59th Medical Wing, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas 78236 †Captain, Medical Corps, US Air Force; Resident Otolaryngologist, San Antonio Military Medical Center, 3551 Roger Brooke Drive, Joint Base San Antonio, Fort Sam Houston, Texas 78234 267 Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Combat Casualty Care INTRODUCTION The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have resulted age to the deeper structures of the middle and inner in large numbers of head and neck injuries to NATO ear, as well as the brain. Special arrangement of the (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and Afghan ser- outer and middle ear is essential for efficient capture vice members. Improvised explosive devices, mortars, and transduction of sound energy to the inner ear in and suicide bombs are the weapons of choice during order for hearing to take place. This efficiency relies this conflict. The resultant injuries are high-velocity on a functional anatomical relationship of a taut tym- projectile injuries. Relatively little is known about the panic membrane connected to a mobile, intact ossicular precise incidence and prevalence of isolated closed chain. Traumatic forces that disrupt this relationship temporal bone fractures in theater. During the senior will alter the handling of sound energy along its author’s (CRE) last deployment (>500 clinical and sur- pathway to the inner ear. This breach also allows for gical encounters), there were five cases of closed-skull potential damage to the deeper, closed structures of base fractures. The current International Classification the inner ear. of Diseases (ICD)-9 coding system does not allow for Consequences of trauma to the ear and temporal documentation of isolated temporal bone fractures. A bone are not limited to functional deficits related to recent Department of Defense trauma theater registry hearing, balance, and facial nerve function. An esti- data extraction using ICD-9 trauma codes for cranial/ mated lateral force of greater than 1,875 lbs is required skull injury revealed a large number of service mem- to cause temporal bone fracture.1 Obviously, this bers sustaining both open and closed cranial injuries. amount of force can often lead to injury to surrounding In fact, during the last decade of war, service members tissues. Damage to underlying intracranial structures suffered more than 1,065 closed-skull base fractures. can result in serious or life-threatening injuries that The reported number of open skull base fractures was take precedence in initial management of the patient. 490 injuries over the last decade. This data represent Large series have shown that temporal bone fractures individuals who were transported from theater. were associated with intracranial injuries in 56% of An innate instinct in humans leads to turning the cases,2 and death from related injuries was as high eyes and face away from incoming impact or projec- as 18%.3 This chapter will discuss the evaluation and tiles, which can often lead to trauma to the ear and management decisions that such injuries pose. In ad- side of the head. The outer ear and temporal bone dition, special considerations for war-related trauma can absorb the majority of these forces and limit dam- will be addressed. INITIAL EVALUATION The initial evaluation of any trauma patient will hearing evaluation with tuning forks is essential to require an assessment of the airway, breathing, and determine the presence and type of hearing loss. The circulation, followed by appropriate trauma surveys. presence of clear fluid in the external canal in conjunc- For this population of head trauma patients, the assess- tion with a tympanic membrane perforation suggests a ment of mental status and stabilization of the cervical cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak. This can be confirmed spine will be paramount. Intracranial hemorrhage by laboratory testing of the fluid. Particular attention leading to elevated pressure will need to be excluded to facial nerve function is essential during the initial or managed appropriately. Observational studies have evaluation of these patients. Keys to the appropriate estimated that basilar skull fractures occur in 4% to management are the degree and timing of facial nerve 30% of head trauma patients, with 18% to 40% of these dysfunction, which should be documented as soon as involving the temporal bone.4 possible. For the otolaryngology consultant, evaluation will Certain physical findings should alert the physi- likely take place after completion of initial trauma sur- cian to the possibility of temporal bone or otological vey and patient stabilization. A history of the traumatic trauma: event and a complete head and neck examination are the most important steps in the evaluation. Special at- • otorrhea (bloody or clear), tention should be given to the otoscopic examination. • hemotympanum, Debridement of the external ear canal may be neces- • tympanic membrane perforation, sary to establish the need for microwick placement • external auditory canal (EAC) laceration, and removal of possible debris. After examination, the • facial weakness, tympanic membrane can be evaluated for perforation • acute vertigo, or or drainage. When the patient’s condition allows it, • hearing abnormality. 268 Temporal Bone Fractures The presence of hemotympanum (Figure 22-1) has suspected temporal bone fractures. Facial weakness was been found to have a positive predictive value of 86% less predictive, with a positive predictive value of 72%. for ipsilateral temporal bone fracture in one study.2 Traditionally, ecchymosis overlying the mastoid process, Suspected or audiometrically confirmed sensorineural known as Battle’s sign, has long been taught as a clinical hearing loss (SNHL), vertigo, or nystagmus each had marker of basilar skull fracture. One or a combination 100% positive predictive value in this series of 113 cases of of these signs should lead to radiographic examination. FRACTURE CLASSIFICATION Historically, fractures of the temporal bone have Several studies in the past two decades have devel- been classified as longitudinal, transverse, or mixed oped and tested alternate methods for categorizing in relation to the long axis of the petrous ridge. This temporal bone fractures with respect to clinical sig- classification system was developed based on postmor- nificance.3,5,6 In a study of 155 fractures in 132 patients, tem and animal studies.2,3,5 Longitudinal fractures are Ishman and Friedland3 found that a classification more common, accounting for 70% to 90% of fractures, system of petrous and nonpetrous fractures showed a whereas transverse fractures occur 10% to 30% of the statistically significant difference in the presence of CSF time. Previous studies have documented the rate of leak, facial nerve injury, and conductive hearing loss. facial nerve injury to be 10% to 25% in longitudinal Petrous fractures had a 10-fold greater risk of CSF leak fractures and 38% to 50% in transverse fractures.3 (33.3% vs 3.6%) and a 3-fold greater risk of facial nerve Traditional teaching is that longitudinal fractures are injury (22.2% vs 7.2%) compared with nonpetrous the result of a blow to the head from a lateral or tem- fractures. However, nonpetrous fractures had a 55.6% poroparietal direction (Figure 22-2). They generally incidence of conductive hearing loss (CHL) compared affect the EAC and the middle ear space. Alternatively, with 20% for petrous fractures. Comparatively, dif- transverse fractures occur after a frontal or occipital ferences in these measures between longitudinal and blow to the head, and originate at the vestibular aque- transverse fracture patterns did not show statistical duct (Figure 22-3). In the practical setting, categorizing significance. Only the disparity between the groups a fracture as longitudinal or transverse is not always straightforward, and recent data have shown that this classification system does not accurately predict clini- cal outcomes.3,5,6 Figure 22-2. Longitudinal otic capsule-sparing temporal Figure 22-1. Hemotympanum sustained after a longitudinal bone fracture. Longitudinal fracture line indicated by orange temporal bone fracture. arrows. Carotid canal indicated by yellow arrow. 269 Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Combat Casualty Care Figure 22-3. Right transverse fracture involving the otic capsule. First genu of the facial canal indicated by blue arrow. Transverse fracture line through the otic capsule indicated by the orange arrow. with respect to SNHL was significant (50% of longi- tudinal vs 15.4% of transverse), which contradicted previous teachings that transverse fractures had a higher association with SNHL. Another classification system, studied by Dahiya Figure 22-4. Mixed temporal bone fracture. Longitudinal fracture line indicated by the yellow arrow. Transverse fracture et al,5 separated the fractures into otic capsule-sparing line indicated by the orange arrow. and otic capsule-violating fractures. This retrospective review of