Mastoiditis

This week for my pathology blog I decided to write about mastoiditis. Mastoiditis occurs when the epithelial tissues that lines the tiny air cavities of the temporal bones become inflamed.

Mastoiditis is most often caused by an ear infection when a person's eustachian tubes become blocked causing a buildup of bacteria and other fluids to back up into the mastoids.

Some symptoms of mastoiditis can include inflammation, tenderness, and swelling behind the ear in the regions of the mastoids. Fever and headache along with these other symptoms may also be a sign of mastoiditis. Diarrhea, irritability and pulling the the ears in infants may also be early signs of an acute mastoiditis infection. Fluid draining from the ear may also be a sign of serious mastoiditis infection. Cholesteotomas, another pathology we discussed this week can also cause mastoiditis.

In order to diagnose mastoiditis an MRI or CT of the IAC's are the exams of choice. X-rays may also be performed but give physicians far less information on the extent of the infection. MRI and CT which confirm mastoiditis will often show bone destruction or fluid buildup in the mastoids.

Mastoiditis was once the leading cause of mortality in young children. But with the advent of antibiotics, mastoiditis is pretty rare. Nowadays, antibiotics are usually prescribed at the first sign of an ear infection preventing it from spreading to the mastoids. Though if left untreated or not diagnosed soon enough, mastoiditis can lead to destruction of the mastoids and temporal bones. In the case of destruction of the mastoids as shown in the picture above, the infection is free to spread to the brain possibly leading to a brain abscess.

I found my information about mastoiditis on two different websites; wikipedia.com and emedicine.com.