Two Cases of Skull Base Osteomyelitis in Elderly Patients after Mastoidectomy

Address for correspondence June Choi, MD, PhD Department of OtorhinolaryngologyHead and Neck Surgery, Ansan Hospital, Korea University Medical Center, 516 Gojan-dong, Ansan 425-707, Korea Tel +82-31-412-5170 Fax +82-31-412-5174 E-mail mednlaw@korea.ac.kr Skull base osteomyelitis (SBO) is a rare disease and may develop as a complication of paranasal sinusitis or other regional infectious process. The characteristic symptom of SBO is headache and paralysis of cranial nerve. A potentially life-threatening disease, it requires aggressive antibiotic treatment. We present 2 cases of SBO. One case who were not immunocompromised or diabetics had paralysis of lower cranial nerves. The patient was effectively treated with complete mastoidectomy and antibiotics, so had a complete recovery. But, the other patient who were insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus was died due to meningitis and pons palsy. Korean J Audiol 2011;15:37-40