AUTHOR=Camurdan Aybige , Kilgue Alexander , Scholtz Lars Uwe , Todt Ingo 

TITLE=Case Report: Inflamed Jacobson nerve: an uncommon cause of persisting otalgia after an acute otitis media

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Surgery

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2024

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/surgery/articles/10.3389/fsurg.2024.1341118

DOI=10.3389/fsurg.2024.1341118

ISSN=2296-875X

ABSTRACT=Introduction
Otalgia can have multiple causes. Mostly otalgia is caused by a tubal dysfunction or an acute middle ear infection. This case describes a patient with an inflammation of the Jacobson`s nerve causing severe persistent otalgia after an acute otitis media. The patients complaints completely disappeared after neurolysis of the Jacobson`s nerve.

Case presentation

We describe a case of a 21-year-old female caucasian patient with acute otitis media and persistent intractable otalgia. Infection was first successfully controlled by antibiotics. But the patient reported a persistent otalgia not responding to analgetics. We performed a CT scan, which exhibited a regular aerated middle ear finding, and a diagnostic tympanoscopy to examine the middle ear structures particularly the tympanic Jacobson`s nerve as a possible cause for persistent pain. The following neurolysis of Jacobson`s nerve under general anaesthesia led to a resolution of otalgia.

Conclusion

An inflamed tympanic Jacobson`s nerve is a rare observation and a persisting otalgia after an acute otitis media not responding to conservative treatment can be treated by a neurolysis.