The intensity of the closing click of mechanical valve prostheses was significantly different for various designs. Patient complaints were related to the objectively measured sound pressure. Noise production should be considered when a mechanical valve is selected.
The amplitude ratio between the paretic and the normal side as determined by electroneuronography is used as a basis for estimating the prognosis of facial palsy. Several methods have been described of placing the surface electrodes and of finding the supramaximal impulse strength. We investigated 16 normal test persons with the aim (1) of optimizing the procedure of neuronography with regard to the possible variations of electrode placement and stimulus intensity and (2) of finding out the right/left difference in normal test subjects. Following our results, the best positions of the recording electrodes are the nasal alae. Even under these most favorable test conditions we found an average side difference of the bilaterally recorded electroneurograms of normal test persons of 22 %.
On the basis of 79 patients with cochlear hearing loss, the statistical distribution of two criteria commonly used in auditory brainstem response audiometry (ABR) was analyzed: the interaural V latency difference (ILD V) and the interaural difference of I-V interpeak interval (ID I-V). The distribution of both criteria was Gaussian. By evaluating their standard deviations the percentages of statistical false-positives were estimated. The estimated results were 24% false-positive findings using the decision criterion ILD V greater than 0.2 ms and 5.4% false-positive findings using ID I-V greater than 0.3 ms. This corresponds closely to the actual false-positive ABR rates obtained in this sample: 21.5% and 6.3%, respectively. In a separate series of 301 unselected cases with asymmetric sensorineural hearing loss, 29 ABRs were suspect for retrocochlear pathology. In 20 patients, ABRs were absent due to severe hearing loss. Retrocochlear pathology could be confirmed in only 2 cases (both from the group with ABR present). Thus, 47 ABRs (15.7% of 299) were false-positive.
The significance of tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption and occupation as risk factors for the development of vocal chord dysplasia was evaluated in a case-control study. Twenty-seven male patients with dysplasia of the vocal chords were chosen from the I. ENT-University Clinic in Vienna (1985-1988) and compared with 54 controls. The main results are: The relative risk (RR) of a smoker compared to that of a non-smoker for vocal chord dysplasia is 7.27 (6.81-7.73); the RR adjusted for occupation is 3.58 (2.31-4.84). The most important risk factor, however, is occupational exposure. The relative risk of a blue collar worker compared to that of a white collar worker is 11.04 (10.61-11.46), which is reduced only to 10.02 (10.61-11.46) after stratification according to smoking habits.
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