Temporal Bone Fractures: Review of 90 Cases

Abstract

\s=b\Of 1,300 consecutive head-injured patients admitted to the hospital over a 20-month time period, 118 were found to have skull fractures, of which 22% involved the temporal bone. These figures form part of a larger study of 90 temporal bone fractures treated over a six-year period from 1975 through 1981. The most common cause of a temporal bone fracture was a motor vehicle accident occurring in 40/90 (44%) patients. Pertinent physical findings, occurring alone or in combination, were a hemotympanum, bleeding from the ear canal, tympanic membrane perforation, facial paralysis, and CSF otorrhea. The diagnosis of temporal bone fractures is best made clinically and radiographically. The early care of temporal bone fractures is directed toward the treatment of CSF otorrhea and immediate onset facial paralysis. The delayed care is primarily concerned with hearing rehabilitation. (Arch Otolaryngol 1983;109:285-288)

Temporal bone fractures: sequelae and their impact on quality of life

“…Many clinical signs of temporal bone fractures can be detected during clinical examination. The commonest clinical sign is hemotympanum, often in association with otorrhagia (84% in our study) [22,23]. Initial otoscopic examination by the emergency physician is indispensable in all cases of cranial trauma, and can indicate immediately the presence of temporal bone fracture.…”

Tympanic Plate Fractures in Temporal Bone Trauma: Prevalence and Associated Injuries

“…here are many reports in the literature describing CT of temporal bone trauma, [1][2][3][4] detailing fracture plane orientations, [4][5][6] ossicular disruptions, otic capsule involvement, 4,5 associations with air in the temporomandibular joint (TMJ), 7 facial nerve injury, [4][5][6] and fracture mimics, to name a few broad categories. 8 Temporal bone fractures involving the tympanic plate (Figs 1 and 2), however, are under-recognized and have received little attention beyond isolated case reports involving mandibular trauma.…”

Management of complication from temporal bone fractures

“…The relative frequencies of temporal bone fractures have commonly been reported as 70-90% longitudinal and CHL conductive hearing loss, SNHL sensorineural hearing loss 10-30% transverse, although it has been noted that mixed fractures may be the most common fracture type [3,4]. Ishman et al [4] simply distinguish petrous from nonpetrous fractures and they noticed that it is far better correlation with respect to facial nerve weakness, cerebrospinal fluid leakage, conductive and sensorineural hearing loss.…”