Mastoiditis Research Paper

Mastoiditis is when the mastoid process becomes infected with bacteria and can destroy the inner portion of the mastoid process (Bontrager, 2014). The mastoid is part of the temporal bone and is located right behind the ear. There are air cells contained in the mastoid and these air cells can get infected with a fluid filled abscess and become a life threatening condition called mastoiditis (Bontrager, 2014). There are a few different causes of mastoiditis but the most common one is by an infection of the middle ear. The infection of the middle ear can spread to the mastoid and cause the mastoid to break down (www.nlm.nih.gov, 2014). This occurs mostly in children, especially when the child has several reoccurring ear infections or a history of ear infections (www.stanfordchildrens.org, 2015). Mastoiditis has several symptoms and can be related to many different infections/diseases. These symptoms include: pain behind the ear, swelling of the ear lobe, recent ear infection, fever, irritability, redness or swelling of the bone behind the ear (mastoid process), drainage from the ear, headache, and hearing loss (www.stanfordchildrens.org, 2015). Every person may experience these symptoms or different ones since every body is different and reacts differently to this condition.

You can also have a blood test done or a skull x-ray but CT is the best option (www.stanfordchildrens.org, 2015). The CT scan will show a detailed image of the area of interest and can see it in many different slices which makes it better than general radiography (www.stanfordchildrens.org, 2015). As you can see in the image to the right, it shows normal mastoid air cells on the right side and fluid filled mastoid cells on the left side. This more than likely would not show up on a