Recovery Time of Auricular Sensation after the Retroauricular Incision

Park, Jin Bog; Baek, Sung Hun; Joo, Hyun Joo; Kim, Jong Ok; Shim, Woo Young; Lee, Wun Young; Kim, Chong Ae

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: When the great auricular nerve and lesser occipital nerve are transected via retroauricular incision in ear surgeries, postsurgical hypoesthesia and numbness of the ear can occur. However, little attention has been paid to these symptoms and the morbidity associated with their sacrifice. Therefore, in this study, we examined the recovery time of auricle sensation. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Thirty patients who had received mastoidectomy with retroauricular incision in Wallace Memorial Baptist Hospital from November 1998 to March 1999 were included in this study. For these patients, two point discriminatian tests were performed by placing the sharp legs of a compass at the lower 1/3 portion of the auricular helix before and after the surgery at 1-week intervals until the postoperative value became equal to the preoperative value. We also measured the minimal painful Ampere with the electrical stimulator in the same area, and in triangular fossa and cavum concha before and after the surgery while carring out the two point discrimination study.
RESULTS
With the two point discrimination test, the postoperative value became equal to the preoperative value 17.23+/-1.88 weeks after the surgery. With the electrical stimulation which uses a Hilger stimulator, the time when postoperative value became equal to the preoperative value was found to be 17.7+/-2.03 weeks at the lower 1/3 portion of the helix, 20.l3+/-2.16 weeks at triangular fossa and 20.66+/-1.64 weeks at cavum concha, The result of the two point discrimination test was not statistically different from that of the electrical stimulation test using Hilger facial nerve stimulator at the lower 1/3 portion of the helix (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: We thought that Hilger stimulator may be useful in assessing the sensory recovery time, and we could measure the sensory recovery rime at three positions of the auricle innervated by different nerves.