1,721,021 research outputs found
Ipoacusia e declino cognitivo.
No full textLa complessità biologica, clinica ma soprattutto psico-sociale dell’anziano è argomento di grande attualità nel mondo geriatrico, che ha orientato le proprie ricerche a definire gli aspetti che comportano la comparsa e l’evoluzione della fragilità. L’invecchiamento, accompagnato dall’aumento dell’aspettativa di vita, implica la riduzione delle riserve funzionali di organi e apparati ed espone l’individuo a un maggiore rischio di malattia. Il termine “fragilità” identifica proprio questa condizione di vulnerabilità, a volte difficile da riconoscere visto che le determinanti di tale processo sono molto diverse. I saggi di questo volume presentano i risultati di diversi studi della letteratura e in particolare dell’Alvise Cornaro Center Study, e si soffermano su alcuni indicatori riconosciuti come segnali della fragilità, a partire dai disturbi visivi e uditivi. Identificare e comprendere il ruolo della fragilità come condizione che interferisce con la durata della vita dell’anziano costituisce il punto di partenza per pianificare interventi mirati a prevenirla e a combatterne le conseguenze, quali il decadimento funzionale e cognitivo
Aging, cognitive decline and hearing loss: outcomes of auditory rehabilitation in older adults.
Full text linkIntroduction. Restoring a sensory function in older adults might allow a significant improvement in their cognitive status. Although specific clinical conditions could compromise management and drastically reduce the chance of acceptable outcomes, auditory rehabilitation with cochlear implants or hearing aids still remains one of the most effectiveness procedure. Advances in research and technology suggest a functional “adaptation” in central processes that could influence other related or not strictly related activities, such as memory and working memory, frontal and pre-frontal processes, orientation, calculation, logic and executive functions. Since the link between hearing loss and cognitive decline has been clarified, scientific community is currently finding out the lacking evidence of effectiveness of auditory rehabilitation in reducing or counteracting cognitive decline.
Material and Methods. Hearing impaired patients with more than 65 years of age, affected with mild to profound hearing loss were enrolled in the present study; complete audiological assessment and cognitive status evaluation were performed in order to define personal scores for comparison in longitudinal testing after different auditory rehabilitation. A control group was created for statistical purposes and made of cases matched per age and clinical status, without hearing loss and cognitive decline. Different subgroups were created to reduce heterogeneity in terms of entity of hearing loss, duration of auditory deprivation, type of auditory rehabilitation and training. A follow up of 6-12 months has been carried out for selected patients.
Results. To date, 77 subjects have been included in the present study and divided in 5 different groups based on types and degree of hearing loss. Statistical analyses with t-student test and fisher exact test, shows a significant difference in depression and cognitive status scores before and after auditory rehabilitation. In addition there are no differences between the control group (20 subjects) and patients who have a good outcomes after auditory training and rehabilitation.
Discussion. Auditory rehabilitation shows significant effectiveness even among older adults with different degrees of hearing loss, and positive improvements are detectable in terms of social isolation, depression and cognitive performances. In future research, it will be crucially important to unravel how sensory abilities are linked to cognitive functioning in aging. Conventional medical assessment is often not enough to assess older people with multiple comorbidities. In the end, a multidisciplinary approach is still the best option, and geriatrics should include specific sensorineural investigations to manage elderly patients who are generally at risk of cognitive decline and hearing loss
The signal-to-noise ratio assessment in cochlear implanted patients through the Italian Matrix Sentence test (Oldenburg test)
No full textDisturbi dell’equilibrio nell’anziano: inquadramento diagnostico e diagnosi differenziale
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Audiological and clinical management of children with oculo-auriculo-vertebral spectrum
Full text linkCavernous hemangioma of the external ear: case report and literature review
No full textOBJECTIVES:
To describethe occurrence of a cavernous hemangioma of the external auditory meatus extending to the middle ear and the retroauricolar region in an adult patient, and to review the relevant literature.
METHODS:
Case report. We report the clinical presentation, imaging studies and surgical procedures used in the study.
RESULTS:
The angiographic study showed that the blood supply of the mass originated from the posterior auricular artery. Via a retroauricular approach, this artery was isolated and ligated in order to control the intra-operative bleeding. A canal wall up mastoidectomy with posterior tympanotomy and a tympano-canaloplasty were performed, permitting a complete excision. At 36 months of follow-up, no clinical and radiological signs of recurrence were detected.
CONCLUSION:
Surgical removal is the treatment of choice, with rare recurrence of the hemangiomas. Pre-operative evaluation is based on computed tomography (CT scan), but should be followed by magnetic resonance angiography (MR-angio) or intra-arterial digital subtraction angiography (IA-DSA), especially in case of wider lesions
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