Clinical characteristics of pulsatile tinnitus caused by sigmoid sinus diverticulum and wall dehiscence: a study of 54 patients

Abstract

The study population comprised 51 females and 3 males. Most patients with PT caused by SSD and SSWD were middle-aged women. All had normal otoscopy results. Anomalies occurred in or adjacent to the region of the transverse-sigmoid sinus junction in 52 patients. Half of the patients (27/54) presented abnormal results of examination of blood lipids. There were 57.41% (31/54) cases with ipsilateral dominance of the venous system, 9.26% (5/54) cases with contralateral dominance, and 33.33% (18/54) cases with co-dominance of the venous system.

Association between idiopathic intracranial hypertension and sigmoid sinus dehiscence/diverticulum with pulsatile tinnitus: a retrospective imaging study

“…Wang found that PT patients with SSDD had a high prevalence of dyslipidemia [30], which can increase the density and viscosity of the blood and elevate the pressure within the sigmoid sinus cavity and against the sigmoid sinus wall. Notably, most of the PT patients (29/33) with SSDD were female in our study.…”

CT evaluation of sigmoid plate dehiscence causing pulsatile tinnitus

“…Sigmoid plate dehiscence (SPD) with or without sigmoid sinus diverticulum (SSD), accounting for approximately 1 % of asymptomatic individuals [8,9], has been reported as a treatable cause of PT [10][11][12][13][14]. SPD with SSD (also known as sigmoid aneurysm) was found in about 20 % of PT patients [10,15].…”

Endovascular Management of Sigmoid Sinus Diverticulum

“…In about half the cases, the SSD is present on the side of the dominant transverse sigmoid sinus, being at least 3 mm larger than the other [3]. This condition is reported more commonly in middle-aged women [3].…”

“…In about half the cases, the SSD is present on the side of the dominant transverse sigmoid sinus, being at least 3 mm larger than the other [3]. This condition is reported more commonly in middle-aged women [3]. It is due to dehiscence of the wall of the sinus and protrusion of part of the sinus into the pneumatized bone, resulting in pulsatile and potentially disabling tinnitus [4].…”

“…Upstream sinus stenosis (SS) is often noticed with SSD and has been considered to have a causative role in sinus diverticulum generation, as in our case. Compression of the ipsilateral internal jugular vein eliminates or attenuates venous PT, with its loudness often influenced by head position [3]. Dural SS per se can cause PT due to turbulent flow of blood through stenotic vascular structures or secondary to intracranial hypertension caused by venous hypertension [4,5].…”