[Peculiar features of mastoiditis in a brest-fed infant with the "exposed" facial nerve].

This paper reports the clinical case of mastoiditis in a 5-month old child in whom an unusual localization of the totally "naked" facial nerve outside of the bone canal in the mastoid part was discovered intraoperatively. This finding was quite unexpected because nerves are not visible on CT scanograms. The author emphasizes that the clinical course of otitis media in the breast- fed infants and young children is characterized by a number of peculiarities due to specific anatomical, physiological, and immunological features of the child's organism. She also notes that the number of antromastoidotomies for the treatment of mastoiditis has increased in Tatarstan during the recent years.