This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Neurology  • Neuro-otology  • Congenital Anomalies of Head & Neck  • Hearing Loss/ Deafness  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Clinical Course and Associations

Xin Yong Huang, MRCS(Edin); Guan Sze Tay, FRCS(Edin); Gervais Khin-Lin Wansaicheong, FRCR; Wong-Kein Low, FRCS

Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2007;133(1):65-68.

Objectives  To evaluate the clinical course of congenital preauricular sinus (PAS) up until adulthood and to determine its association with congenital ear and renal abnormalities.

Design  Cohort survey.

Setting  Medical screening facility at a military base.

Participants  All individuals in a cohort of male subjects who were medically assessed for conscription into the army between September 1, 2003, and March 31, 2004.

Interventions  Subjects identified as having PAS were further evaluated with pure-tone audiometry and renal ultrasonography.

Main Outcome Measures  Presence of PAS and associated hearing and renal abnormalities.

Results  Of 10 734 male subjects (median age, 19 years; range, 16-26 years) screened, 121 (1.13%) were found to have PAS, all of which were isolated. The point prevalence of PAS in Chinese, Malay, and Indian subjects was 1.36%, 0.69%, and 0.17%, respectively. Of the 29 subjects (24.0%) who developed symptoms (mainly sinus discharge), most had recurrent symptoms, and 7 (24.1%) of the 29 had onset of symptoms after age 16 years. Only 1.7% and 2.6% of the subjects had associated hearing loss (sensorineural) and renal deformity (minor in nature), respectively.

Conclusions  In a study of young adult males with PAS, associations with ear and renal abnormalities were found to be rare, although PAS had widely been acknowledged to be associated with these congenital defects. Up until adulthood, about one quarter of all lesions became symptomatic. Of those who developed symptoms, almost one third did so after age 16 years. The most common symptom was sinus discharge, which tended to be recurrent.

Author Affiliations: Medical Classification Centre, Central Manpower Base, Ministry of Defense (Drs Huang, Tay, and Low); Department of Otolaryngology, Singapore General Hospital (Drs Huang and Low); and Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Tan Tock Seng Hospital (Dr Wansaicheong), Singapore.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Preauricular Skin Tags and Ear Pits Are Associated With Permanent Hearing Impairment in Newborns
Roth et al.
Pediatrics 2008;122:e884-e890.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Preauricular Sinuses: Potential Diagnostic Pitfalls?
Dubik
AAP Grand Rounds 2007;17:70-71.
FULL TEXT