[in Japanese]

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　Newborn hearing screening (NHS) has been conducted widely in Japan in the last decade, however, there seems to be some confusion regarding the significance of NHS or management of the results obtained from NHS among clinics and practitioners. The system of NHS in Japan should be improved and refined through continuous evaluation of NHS, in terms of cost effectiveness in particular, so that NHS can be conducted more efficiently and effectively. To achieve this goal, the authors thought it important to clarify the current status and roles of our department as a facility for infants with congenital hearing impairment. In the present study, we studied 106 infant cases who were referred to the Department of Otolaryngology in Kyoto University Hospital after NHS before the age of twelve months in a period of seven years from 2006 to 2012 via retrospective chart reviewing. 79.2% of 96 infants who were qualified as referred either unilaterally or bilaterally following NHS were diagnosed as having hearing impairment in any form, either unilateral or bilateral, or conductive and/or sensorineural. The positive agreement rate was 88.7% in 53 cases who were qualified as referred bilaterally in NHS, demonstrating a high reliability of the NHS system. Twenty-four cases were diagnosed as having the need for hearing aids and were assigned to treatment and education. All the infants who underwent cochlear implantation in our department had severe bilateral hearing impairment of more than 105 dBnHL in both ears at the first examination. Moreover, a number of infants who were qualified as having passed in both ears in NHS or who had failed to receive NHS at birth were revealed as having hearing impairment and needed treatment later in the first year of their life, suggesting that NHS should be conducted in combination with periodical health checkups by family practitioners in order to identify infants with hearing impairment earlier in their life with higher efficacy.

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　Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a common opportunistic infection in immunosuppressive patients. One of the organs often involved is the gastrointestinal tract, but the pharynx, especially hypopharyngeal involvement, is rare. In this report, we present a case of a 61-year-old male compromised host, admitted to the hospital for the treatment of dermatomyositis, who presented with hypopharyngeal ulceration due to cytomegalovirus infection. Multiple deep ulcerative lesions with thick belaque, or with a protruding bony edge were observed in the adjacent areas in/around the hypopharynx, which repeatedly demonstrated exacerbation and remission in a relatively short period. The lesions developed acute bleeding and required emergency operative hemostasis. The ulcerations completely disappeared after the treatment with gancyclovir. We reviewed our case as well as other cases reported so far, and extracted the points we should be aware of when we encounter a case of hypopharyngeal ulceration based on cytomegalovirus infection; 1. acute bleeding, 2. paralysis of the vocal cords and subsequent breathing difficulty, 3. pharyngeal perforation.

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　We report herein on a patient with unexpected trismus after the induction of general anesthesia due to temporomandibular arthrosis. A 30 year old man visited our hospital complaining of hematuria, and he was scheduled for bil tonsillectomy under general anesthesia. Preoperative examination revealed no evidence of difficult airway and no sign of trismus.
Despite the administration of muscle relaxants, it was impossible to expand the operative field due to by trismus after the introduction of general anesthesia. Malignant hyperthermia was excluded, and the trismus was judged to be due to temporomandibular arthrosis. Manual repositioning was performed, trismus was improved and expansion of the surgical field became possible.
During any head and neck surgical procedure, if an otolaryngologist should encounter trismus after the induction of general anesthesia, temporomandibular arthrosis should be borne in mind if temporomandibular arthrosis is diagnosed as the cause, manual repositioning should be employed as soon as possible.

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　Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is a disease that is characterized by localized edema that can occur anywhere in the body, and is caused by a mutation of the C1-inhibitor gene. In the oto-rhino-laryngological region, it occurs in the mouth, pharynx, larynx, and on the face. Occasionally, laryngopharyngeal edema can in particular sometimes be fatal. We report herein on a case of a 59-year-old female who was admitted to our hospital for further evaluation and treatment of laryngopharyngeal edema. She had a history of subcutaneous edema during pregnancy and ascites of unknown origin without a definitive diagnosis. On admission, there were low C1 inhibitor and complement C4 levels, and normal C1q levels. As the patient had no family history of HAE, we performed gene analysis, which revealed mutation of the C1-inhibitor gene in Exon7. In cases of HAE without family history, gene analysis is required for accurate diagnosis.

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