Ethio-American Hearing Project
Happy New Otologist!
January 2019
Happy New Year!
Happy 1st surgery as an Otologist!
2019 has brought about some great changes and progress. Meet Dr. Asnake Bitew, otologist from Bahir Dar Hospital. Since completing his otology training, he is now able to lead a surgical campaign at the University of Gondar Hospitial.
Congratulations Dr. Asnake!
The American Otological Society
On Saturday May 4, 2019 at the start of the American Otological Society Spring Meeting, Dr. Carol Bauer - AOS president - awarded Dr. Miriam Redleaf the AOS Presidential Citation for the UIH otology work in Ethiopia.
Congratulations Dr. Redleaf!!
Summer 2019 (May-August)
We made two trips this summer, one in May and the other in August.
In May, the team went to Mekelle and Addis Ababa. While there, we focused on patient care. Dr. Gabrielle Cager, audiologist performed auditory brainstem response testing (ABR) on children who were too young for play audiometry. The ability to perform ABR testing has allowed for early diagnosis as the test does not need the child to respond in any way. She also does follow up evaluations and management on children who obtained cochlear implants in other countries.
In August Dr. Miriam Redleaf, otologist oversaw numerous surgeries while in Mekelle as our otology fellowship continues. Delicate surgeries such as stapendectomy, tympanoplasty, and mastoidectomy were performed.
In Addis Ababa, two of the Ethiopian otologist performed cochlear implant surgery (supervised by Dr. Redleaf) using Med El implants on a 6 year old and 39 year old. Dr. Cager will assist in their programming via telemedicine as well as when she is there on her next visit. These surgeries including the repair of a CSF leak were done at MCM-Korean Hospital.
Otology Conference with Live Surgery
Our trip in November was a success!
We did hearing screenings on approximately 600 school age children between the age of 7 and 13 years of age in Mekelle. Besides being a helpful resource to the families, this data can be used to estimate the prevalence of congenital hearing loss.
We also had our 3rd annual International Ethiopian Otology Guba-e featuring Dr. Es-hak Bedri, Addis Ababa, Professor Vijayendra Honnurappa, Bangalore, India, and Professor Miriam Redleaf, Chicago, IL. I was a huge successful 3 days of lecture and live surgeries. See you all again in 2020. We would also like to say congratulations to our graduation fellow, Drs. Bethelhem Berhanu and Medhani Gebreslassie, Ethiopian Otologist.
