Detection of temporal bone cholesteatoma by multidetector computed tomography

Objective: To determine the CT patterns of temporal bone cholesteatoma in patients presenting with chronic discharge from ear

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Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study conducted at Department of Radiology, Rehman Medical Institute Peshawar from January 2013 to June 2014. 78 patients with chronic discharging ear, who were referred from E.N.T outpatient department, were included in the study. All scans were performed on 128 slice Multidetector Computed tomography [MDCT] scanner.O.Smm reconstructed images in bone window and 3mm images in soft tissue window were viewed on 5.1 vitrea workstation in axial, coronal and sagittal planes. The CT studies were correlated with clinical examination findings, surgical and histopathology. Basic radiologic patterns of cholesteatoma described on CT scan were assessed. The data was processed using Microsoft excel 2007

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Results: Cholesteatoma was present in 48 [61%] cases. The disease was bilateral in 7 cases [14 %], 39 [81 %] were unilateral. 25 [52%] were left sided and 14 [29%] right-sided. 24 [30 %] patients were characterized as having otomas-toiditis whereas 7[8%] patients were radiologically difficult to characterize if they were cholesteatoma or not

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Conclusion: Cholesteatomas can cause bone erosions and should be detected early. The important role of MDCT lies in the early detection of cholesteatoma, and more conservative surgical procedures can be used to eradicate the disease