Rajendra K Teharia^1*, Nirmal C Purohit²

¹Senior Resident, ²Assistant Professor, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Jodhpur Medical College and hospitals, Jodhpur, INDIA.

Email: drrajemdraent@yahoo.com

Table 1: Types of foreign body in the external ear by age and sex

In Table-2, the most common complication due to foreign bodies in the ear was canal edema and laceration (58.87%), and the commonly affected age group was between 0-8 years of age (64%). Most complications in foreign bodies in the external ear were due to insects (38%), beans and seeds (25.4%), and stones (20.6%) as shown in Table-3. 76 cases were needed removal under general anesthesia. The most common age group which needed general anesthesia for external ear foreign bodies was between 0-8 years (60.5%) and the most common type of foreign body which needed general anesthesia was stone (39.5%) as showed in Table-4 and 5.

Table 2: Complications resulting from foreign body external ear according to age group

Table 3: Complications caused by the type of foreign body

Table 4: Age group wise distribution of general anesthesia usage

Table 5: foreign body types wise distribution for general anesthesia usage

DISCUSSION

 Foreign body in the external ear is a common cause of emergencies in hospitals. The causes of ear foreign body in the ear may be due to accidental insertion of objects, the curiosity of children to put inside ear during playing, attempt to clear wax to maintain local hygiene of ear, itching ear with cotton bud especially by adults of their ear. In our study, maximum cases occurred in the age group between 5-8 years of age. This may be due to accidental entry in-ear during playing by themselves or by mates or due to the curiosity of children. The second most commonly affected group of external ear foreign bodies was above 16 years of age. This may be due to accidental insertion during local cleaning to maintain ear hygiene or during ear itching. Accidental insertion of ear foreign bodies in adults by their children during playing or during the sleeping of parents while their children were playing nearby, was an interesting cause also present in some cases in our study. The most common age group affected by complications of foreign body in the ear was between 0-8 years (64%). This may be due to inappropriate manipulation of the ear canal by parents, untrained general practitioners, and by uncooperative nature of children⁷. In our study, the most common foreign body ear types were insects (19.9%), seeds and beans (14.8%), and stones (14%), comparable with the study done by Bressler and Shelton.⁷ Insects were more common in adults and younger age groups compared to stones, seeds, and beans which were more common in school going children age groups. This may be due to the adult population is more mobile and children are more curious or accidental insertion occur during playing. Ornamental pieces were very common below 4 year of age children this may be due to their nearness to parents or habit of playing with parents ornaments⁸. The most common type of foreign body ear causing complications in-ear was insects (38.1%), beans (25.4%), and stones (20.7%). This may be due to the nature of foreign body and history of attempts of removal and improper technique of removal of foreign body ear⁹. Only 11.6% of cases in our study were required general anesthesia and the most common type of foreign body ear was stones (39.5%) that needed general anesthesia for removal^{[3, 10}. The most common complications due to ear foreign body in our study were canal laceration (58.8%)followed by tympanic membrane perforation (27%) and otitis externa (14.2%), comparable to study done by Neto et al.¹¹.

CONCLUSION

 In our study, the external ear foreign bodies were most frequent in school going children age group and in adults. The most common types of ear foreign bodies were insects followed by seeds and beans and stones respectively. The complication in-ear foreign body was the most common in-between age group 0-8 years. Complications were the most frequent in insets, seeds, and beans, and stones ear foreign bodies. Stones ear foreign bodies mostly required general anesthesia for removal because of their nature.

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