[Traumatic auricular hematoma in athletes: histopathological findings and clinical considerations on the experimental...

Surgical procedures used for treating hematomas of the auricle are often defective in obtaining complete cosmetic and functional results when hematoma is of traumatic origin, as often thickening and deformity may outcome. Up to date, some pathological aspects of the healing process of auricular hematomas due to blunt trauma are still unclear as only lesions similar to spontaneous hematoma were experimentally produced and studied. Traumatic auricular hematoma, a lesion caused by rough contacts in sports like rugby, judo, karate, wrestling, etc., was never experimentally induced and studied. The Authors have induced both traumatic and non-traumatic hematomas in a group of 5 rabbits, injecting blood clots under the perichondral layer of one auricle while in the contralateral the hematoma was induced by compressive friction as it is caused during the above referred sports activities. Lesions of both sides were examined after 15 and 60 days and it was found that histopathological picture and clinical course of traumatic hematoma deeply differ from those of non-traumatic one. Non-traumatic lesion appears like a circumscribed hematoma without any evident sign of surrounding reaction, while traumatic lesion shows clear signs of polymorphic and marked reaction. In traumatic hematoma reactive and reparative processes are observed which alter the cartilage and perichondrium associated with many which alter the microhematomas in the subcutaneous connective tissue, close to the main hematoma. Histological findings found 2 months after injury show cartilaginous auricolar skeleton to be thickened by chondrocytes grouped in islands or fingered from perichondrium.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)