[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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The bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA) has advantages over conventional hearing aids in sound quality and speech reception in silence, but requires surgery and may have peri-and postoperative complications. We evaluated audiological findings and complications in 12 subjects (13 ears)—8 men and 4 women aged 20-71—undergoing BAHA surgery from September 2001 to October 2005. Surgery was for single-sided deafness in one subject. Mean warble tone thresholds with BAHA were 29.9dB and 65.2dB without. Functional gains ranged from 16 to 52dB (mean: 35.3dB). Dural exposure or venous hemorrhage was seen in 4 ears, and mastoid cells opened and a skin flap was damaged in 1 ear each. No severe complications occurred perioperatively. Skin reactions categorized into grade 1 or more were recognized in nearly 70% of ears during the first postoperative year but most were a grade 1 reaction and skin reactions decreased with time. Skin overgrowth occurred in 1 ear immediately after an abutment separated accidentally from the fixture. All complications were treated in outpatient clinics. No fixture extrusion occurred. The decision to proceed with BAHA surgery thus required fully informed consent based on knowledge of peri-and postoperative complications.

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We retrospectively reviewed 44 cases of major salivary gland lesions surgically resected following preoperative fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC). Our objective was to determine the validity of the salivary gland FNAC reporting proposed in 2004 by the Japanese Society of Clinical Cytology. Of the 44 lesions, 33 were in the parotid gland and 11 in the submandibular gland. Of these, 8 lesions were malignant. Two from benign lesions could not be satisfactorily evaluated, and 4 from benign lesions and 1 from a malignant lesion were indeterminate. Results were 3 true positive, 30 true negative, and 4 false negative, with no false positive results. Calculated sensitivity was 42.9% (4/7), specificity 100% (30/30), and accuracy 89.2% (34/37). We concluded that using the new reporting decreases ambiguity in clinicians' interpretation of cytology reports, thus benefitting subjects.

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Actinomyces naeslundii, an oral biofilm bacterium of, can be cured using intravenous piperacillin, clindamycin, and surgery. We report a case of cervical actinomycosis due to Actinomyces naeslundii. A 56-year-old man seen for right cervical swelling had undergone dental work. Computed tomography indicated an abscess, from which we aspirated pus using a needle. Although no sulfur granules were found, pus yielded Actinomyces naeslundii. This case is, to our knowledge, the first reported in Japan of cervical actinomycosis due to A. naeslundii.

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