Article
Surgical anatomy and three dimensional morphology of the supralabyrinthine space
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Published: | April 4, 2012 |
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Background: The importance of the supralabyrinthine recess has been emphasized by Dr. Fisch. However, in clinical practice, the space has not fully understood by many ENT physicians. Incompletely removed lesion in this space is the common reason for recurrent otitis media. Moreover, improper surgery handling will cause serious complications, such as facial nerve injury and/or inner ear damage, resulting in complete hearing loss and facial paralysis.
In view of the importance of supralabyrinthine recess for middle ear and mastoid surgery, to help physicians to understand the anatomy and spatial relationships of important structures in this region, we reconstructed three dimensional structures in the space, and quantified their surgically relevant anatomical relationships, hoping to improve the effect of ear surgery and reduce surgical complications.
Materials and methods: We use software to make three dimensional reconstruction of the axial CT images and MPR (multiplanar reconstruction) post-processing, including 55 sides temporal bone in 29 patients (17 males and 12 females). The average age of them is 38.69 ± 17.81 years old. Three dimensional relationships between their mutual complex structures were showed and measured.
Results: The important structures within temporal bone were showed in detail. Three dimensional relationships between every two structures in temporal bone, such as ossicles, facial nerve, labyrinthine, and skull base have been quantified.
Conclusion: The surgically relevant anatomical relationships and three dimensional morphology of the supralabyrinthine space are helpful in surgical dissection. The common surgical findings of the supralabyrinthine space in middle ear surgery and for which the selected treatment were discussed.