had studied anatomic knowledge of LON, but they regarded the occipital protuberance as anatomic landmark. Therefore, it is the most important to preserve LON and GAN to reduce postoperative sensory loss. And the auriculotemporal nerve is in front of the auricle, so it would not get hurt in a post-auricular incision. Among them, the last two nerves just have little impact on the sensation of auricle. The auricular sensory nerves include LON, GAN, auriculotemporal nerve, auricular branch of vagus nerve and post-auricular branch of facial nerve. Sensory loss after post-auricular incision is associated with auricular sensory nerves transection. There is a lack of solution, the problem does not cause enough attention, and there is no related report. However, it may be because the complication of post-auricular incision is too common and can be relieved over time. Under such circumstances, reducing postoperative sensory loss in postauricular incision is significantly important to improve quality of patients’ life. Although the sensory loss could relieve over time slowly, it is reported that 69% of patients undergoing primary surgery experience numbness postoperatively, 26% have continued numbness after at least eight months, and 3% are constantly aware of the sensory deficit and feel distressed. In most of the cases, surgery is performed via post-auricular incision, and sensory loss in auricular area is developed after surgery. Post-auricular incisions are commonly performed for a range of ear surgery, including tympanoplasty and mastoid surgery. Lesser occipital nerve, great auricular nerve, post-auricular incision, sensory loss, ear surgery Introduction Preservation of the LON and GAN in the modified post-auricular incision can reduce postoperative auricular numbness. Preservation of the LON and GAN reduced sensory loss in modified group. The vertical dimension from the intersection of the highest auricular branch of the GAN and post-auricular groove to intertragic notch ranged from 5.7 mm to 4.2 mm. The auricular branches of the LON went into the post-auricular groove at the same height of inferior crus of antihelix most frequently. All patients underwent sensory testing and subjective evaluation of auricular numbness after surgery at different times. After the distribution of the LON and GAN was identified from cadavers, the clinical study was performed in 34 patients, who were divided into conventional group and modified group according to incision type. The tympanic membrane, is anatomically part of, and represents, the most medial extent of the external ear.To describe the feasibility of preserving the lesser occipital nerve (LON) and great auricular nerve (GAN) in post-auricular incision in ear surgery.
#Scapha auricula skin#
It has an outer cover of extremely thin skin and an inner layer of cuboidal epithelium facing the tympanic cavity. The tympanic membrane (or tympanum) consists of two layers of collagen fibers: It is approximately 3 cm long and is lined by skin containing hair follicles (tragi), sebaceous glands, and ceruminous glands (which produce cerumen). The external auditory meatus is a short S-shaped canal within the tympanic temporal bone leading from the external acoustic pore of the auricle to the tympanic membrane. ear lobe ( lobule): the lowest part of the ear and the only part that does not contain cartilage, situated below the intertragic incisure.cymba conchae: depression surrounded by the crus of the helix below and the inferior crus of antihelix above.cavum conchae: the deepest depression in the auricle, inferior to the crus of the helix.intertragic incisure: a notch separating the tragus from the antitragus.antitragus: situated in the lower part of the antihelix and faces the tragus.can be manually pushed back over the pore, to mitigate noise.tragus: prominence in front of the external acoustic pore.scaphoid fossa / scapha: the depression between the helix and antihelix.fossa triangularis: tiny depression between the crura.
crura antihelicis: a pair of limbs located above the external acoustic pore.antihelix: a ridge parallel to the helix.crus helicis: anterior terminal portion of the helix superior to the external acoustic pore.