Impaired nasal air-entry (from paralysis of dilator alæ muscle).
Impaired acoustic sensibility (from paralysis of the stapedius).
Impaired mastication (from involvement of the buccinator muscle).
Impaired secretion of saliva (from the cutting off of the secretory and vaso-dilator fibres of the chorda tympani).
Lastly, it is necessary to add that facial paralysis developing some days or weeks after the accident, though sometimes dependent on degeneration of nerve-fibres as the result of pressure in the region of the geniculate ganglion, may also arise from an ascending neuritis or from meningeal infection.
SYMPTOMS POINTING TO FRACTURE OF THE POSTERIOR FOSSA
External hæmorrhages.
In fractures of the posterior fossa, blood effused into the deeper tissues of the scalp has considerable difficulty in coming to the surface and thus making itself evident. Furthermore, the resistance offered by the nuchal muscles tends to confine the blood to the subtentorial region, thus adding to the already grave prognosis of fractures in this region. On careful palpation, however, it will be noted that the nuchal tissues present a doughy or boggy condition, whilst ecchymosis becomes evident after twenty-four to thirty-six hours. A peculiar ecchymotic patch is occasionally observed, appearing in front of the mastoid process and travelling upwards in a curved direction, concavity forwards, following the outline of the ear. It is said to result from the tracking of blood along the course of the posterior auricular artery. Whether this is the case or not, the hæmorrhage usually implies a separation along the line of the masto-occipital suture.
Escape of cerebro-spinal fluid. | - | Neither of these symptoms are present. | |
Escape of brain-matter. |