Microtia

Acute

What is Microtia?

Microtia is a congenital ear deformity in which the external ear is malformed and underdeveloped. In more severe cases, it is usually associated with the absence of an ear canal, known as aural atresia. These patients suffer from severe conductive hearing loss in the affected ears.

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  • In most cases, one ear is visibly smaller than the other.
  • No outer ear at all, called anotia, is very rare.
  • Children may become self-conscious about their ear as they grow, even if it's a mild deformity.

In addition to the common risks of surgery to include pain, bleeding, swelling, infection, scarring, damage to surrounding structures, and the need for further surgery, complications of microtia repair include pneumothorax from costal cartilage harvest, infection of the cartilage (often with Pseudomonas aeruginosa),

In some cases, anotia/microtia occurs because of an abnormality in a single gene, which can cause a genetic syndrome. Another known cause for anotia/microtia is taking a medicine called isotretinoin (Accutane®) during pregnancy. This medicine can lead to a pattern of birth defects, which often includes anotia/microtia.

Moderate evidence showed that parental low education level, low birth weight (<2500 g), parity greater than or equal to 2, and family history of malformation (especially microtia); maternal intake of antibiotics, benzodiazepines, nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, progesterone, and traditional Chinese medicine.

There's really no way to prevent microtia. But factors such as avoiding certain medications during pregnancy may help. Research is ongoing in this area, so ask your healthcare provider if there are ways to reduce your risk of having a baby with microtia.

How is it diagnosed?

How is it diagnosed?

During this process, a surgeon creates a new ear from cartilage taken from your child's rib or from synthetic (human-made) materials. Surgeons can also use an ear implant to rebuild your child's ear. All of these techniques provide a framework that your surgeon will cover with your child's own tissue

How is it treated?

Treatment for acute myeloid leukemia is vital. It varies with the patient and stage of the disease. Treatment options include

During the first stage of microtia surgery, rib cartilage is harvested from the 6, 7th and 8th ribs, and part of the floating rib (see Image 1). Image 1: Rib cartilage harvest. The rib cartilage is then used to create the framework for the new ear.

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