ADENO TONSILLAR DISEASE –THE CLINICAL & AUDIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES

Aim: To study the Audiological prole of cases with Adenoid Hypertrophy, Tonsillar Hypertrophy and Adeno-tonsillar Hypertrophy Objectives: a. To evaluate for hearing loss in patients with Adenoid hypertrophy, Tonsillar Hypertrophy and Adeno tonsillar Hypertrophy by Pure Tone Audiometry. b. To evaluate the middle ear status and arrive to a diagnosis in patients with Adenoid Hypertrophy, Tonsillar Hypertrophy and Adeno tonsillar Hypertrophy by Impedance Audiometry. c. To correlate these ndings with the clinical ndings. Results: The present study was conducted among 60 patients with tonsillar or adenoid or both hypertrophy tting into inclusion criteria attending ENT OPD at Bhaskar Medical College & Hospital at Moinabad over a period of 18 months (January 2021 to June 2022). The aim of the study was to evaluate for hearing loss & middle ear status in patients with Adenoid hypertrophy, Tonsillar Hypertrophy and Adenotonsillar Hypertrophy by Pure Tone Audiometry and Impedance Audiometry. The ndings of the study are summarized as below: 1. Maximum subjects were from the age group of 5-15 years (73.3%) in this study. 2. There were more females as compared to males. 3. Most common complaint was mouth breathing (65%) followed by recurrent throat infection (58.3%), snoring (53.3%) and difculty in swallowing (48.3%). 4. OSA/difculty in breathing was revealed by 48.3% of the study subjects. 5. Presenting signs viz. palpable jugulodigastric nodes nodes, high arched palate, crowded teeth and pursed lips was reported among 35%, 8.3%, 6.7% and 5% of the study subjects. 6. According to PTA, hearing loss was found to be mild among 36.7% and 38.3% of the subjects in right and left year respectively. Moderate hearing was reported only in 2 subjects. 7. In our study; chronic adenoiditis, chronic tonsillitis and chronic adenotonsillitis was reported among 16.7%, 50% and 33.3% of the subjects. 8. Chronic adenoiditis and chronic adenotonsillitis was found more in age group of 5-15 years while chronic tonsillitis was found in 16-25 as well as >25 year age group. When different diagnosis was compared according to age group, signicant difference was found. 9. Chronic adenotonsillitis was revealed more in male while chronic adenoiditis and chronic tonsillitis was found more in females with statistically signicant difference. 10. Mouth breathing, snoring and difculty in breathing was found mostly in chronic adenotonsillitis while reccurent throat infection and difculty in swallowing was revealed more in chronic tonsillitis. 11. All the signs were comparable among the different diagnosis. 12. Hearing loss was found to be comparable among the subjects suffering from Chronic Adenoiditis, Chronic Tonsillitis and Chronic Adenotonsillitis. 13. Impedence Audiometry was found to be comparable in right as well as left ear according to the diagnosis. Conclusion: To identify the silent hearing loss brought on by OME, audiological screening for kids with chronic adenoiditis, chronic tonsillitis, and chronic adenotonsillitis needs to be made mandatory. The majority of them are asymptomatic mild HI patients. Majority of them in my study presented with different symptomatology but nil with complaints of Hearing loss, which signies importance of audiological screening for all cases of Adenotonsillar hypertrophy. Hence audiological screening for children diagnosed with chronic adenotonsillitis needs to be made mandatory to detect the silent hearing loss caused by OME. Parentsas well as children need to be made aware of this problem so as to make early detection possible and to institute correction of this reversible hearing loss.