Computed tomography of the inner ear: size of anatomical structures in the normal temporal bone and in the temporal bone of patients with Menière’s disease

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to obtain reference values for the sizes of anatomical structures of the inner ear on computed tomography (CT) images and to compare these values with those obtained from patients with Menière's disease. CT images of the temporal bone of 67 patients without inner ear pathology and 53 patients with Menière's disease have been evaluated. CT was performed in the sequential mode (1-mm slice thickness, 120 kV, 125 mA). Anatomical structures, such as the length and the width of the cochlea and of the vestibule, the height of the basal turn, the length and the width of the cochlear, the vestibular and the singular aqueduct and the internal auditory meatus and the diameter of the semicircular canals, were measured, using a dedicated postprocessing workstation. Reference values from the control group could be obtained. In the patients with Menière's disease, the length and the width of the vestibular aqueduct were smaller, compared with the values from the control group. The values obtained from the control group can serve as reference values for adult patients. The different sizes of anatomical structures of the control group and of patients suffering from Menière's disease suggest that functional impairment might be related to subtle morphological changes.

Delineation of temporal bone anatomy: feasibility of low-dose 64-row CT in regard to image quality

“…However, only sections with 1.5 mm were acquired, and only five anatomical structures were evaluated. In contrast to these efforts, we used a list of 42 clinically important anatomical landmarks that vary in size from, for example, the 0.6 mm cochlear aqueduct to the 7.5 mm internal auditory meatus [25]. This is an established and feasible method for comparing different modalities or examination protocols by rating image quality [26,27].…”

Diameter of the Medial Side of the Cochlear Aqueduct Is Narrower in Meniere's Disease: A Radiologic Analysis

“…Krombach et al [15] reported that the mean size of the medial opening was ~3.9 mm and that the mean width at the middle of the canal was ~0.6 mm. In another report, the lateral opening could not be measured in 57.5% (46/80) of the Meniere's disease group cases or in 51.3% (41/80) of the control group cases [16] .…”

Relationship between Multidetector CT Imaging of the Vestibular Aqueduct and Inner Ear Pathologies

“…Ongoing advances in multidetector technology improved the diagnostic accuracy in the evaluation of the temporal bone, especially in the analysis of submillimetric inner ear structures. The anatomic detail obtained through MDCT is considered more defined even than anatomical specimens, whereas dehydration effects of the tissue during fixation leads to up to 10% shrinkage of the specimen 1 …”

“…Multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) of the temporal bone has completely revolutionized the imaging of this complex region 1 . The progress achieved by the introduction of isotropic voxels with submillimetric slice thickness allowed the limitations related to partial volume artifacts and highly increased the spatial resolution to be overcome.…”

“…VA enlargement is a sentinel sign for an underlying malformation of the endolymphatic duct and sac and the accuracy of this evaluation plays an important role since an aqueduct midpoint width (AMW) greater than 1.50 mm is considered to be pathognomonic for a pathological dilatation of the VA 3,11 . Narrower and shorter VA 1,12 and smaller external aperture 6) Ménière's disease, 25 patients.…”