The Age-Related Growth of Mastoid Air Cells in Infancy: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Objectives To investigate the normal growth and development of mastoid pneumatization volume from 5 to 12 months for pediatric otosurgeons. Study Design Retrospective chart review. Setting A tertiary referral center. Patients This study evaluated age-dependent changes in mastoid air cell volume in 94 (188 ears) patients aged 5 to 12 months without a history of middle ear disease. Main Outcome Measures Volume reconstruction was based on high-resolution computed tomography images using a three-dimensional reconstruction that is considered normal by radiologists. One-way analysis of variance and linear regression were used to determine the relationship between the volume and age in male and female subjects. Results Forty-eight scans were from male and 46 from female patients. In the age group from 5 to 12 months, the mastoid pneumatization was independent of age (p > 0.05). There were no significant volume differences found between the age groups. Neither male/female nor right/left significant differences were observed in relation to the algebraic data of the mastoid air cells volume (p > 0.05). Conclusions Based on this analytic study, we are the first to use three-dimensional volume quantification based on high-resolution computed tomography in such large samples of early infancy. Because of its potential role as a susceptibility factor for otitis media and other otologic problems, it is important to describe the growth and development of mastoid pneumatization. More extensive clinical studies are needed to give a comprehensive insight into the air cell volume across age groups in different populations.

The association between high jugular bulb and mastoid pneumatization in adults

“…The grading standard was selected from previous literature as proposed by Woo et al ( 14 ). In this study, a Hounsfield unit (HU) segmentation threshold from −1,024 to −200 was used to represent the area of the mastoid air cells ( 15 ). By summing all volumes of each slice, the total volumes of mastoid pneumatization were automatically calculated by 3D reconstruction expressed in cubic centimeters ( Figure 2 ).…”