Pneumolabyrinth: a new radiologic sign for fracture of the stapes footplate.

A case of fracture of the footplate of the stapes resulting in air in the labyrinth is reported. The pneumolabyrinth was demonstrated by CT scan of the temporal bone but not by complex motion tomography. We consider pneumolabyrinth to be a new diagnostic CT finding in stapes footplate fracture.

Congenital sensorineural hearing loss.

The ears of 47 selected patients with congenital sensorineural hearing loss were examined with complex-motion tomography. The patients were divided into 3 general categories: those with a recognized syndrome, those with sensorineural hearing loss unrelated to any known syndrome, and those with microtia. A great variety of inner ear anomalies was detected, but rarely were these characteristic of a particular clinical entity. The most common finding was the Mondini malformation or one of its variants. Isolated dysplasia of the internal auditory canal or the vestibular aqueduct may be responsible for sensorineural hearing loss in some patients. Patients with microtia may also have severe inner ear abnormalities despite the fact that the outer and inner ears develop embryologically from completely separate systems.

High resolution and dynamic sequential computed tomography. Use in the evaluation of glomus complex tumors.

Computed tomography (CT) has been used to investigate the presence, site, and extent of glomus complex tumors. High resolution CT scanning can accurately evaluate invasion of cervical soft tissues, intratympanic or intracranial extension, and bony involvement of the skull base. Glomus tumors can be differentiated by CT angiographic dynamic study from most other tumors in the head and neck because of their profuse vascularity and their intense enhancement seen on dynamic CT during arterial phase. A glomus tympanicum or extension of a glomus jugulare into the hypotypanum can be best demonstrated by high resolution CT using target review image reconstruction. Glomus tumor in the middle ear can be differentiated from other masses by CT dynamic study and the computer-generated density time curves.

Computed tomography of the middle ear in the evaluation of cholesteatomas and other soft-tissue masses: comparison with pluridirectional tomography.

Computed tomographic (CT) scans and tomograms of 60 patients with various soft-tissue masses of the middle ear, including 30 with cholesteatomas, were studied. CT produced excellent images of middle ear soft-tissue masses and appears to be the diagnostic method of choice for cholesteatomas, glomus tympanicum tumors, and other soft-tissue masses. In one patient CT demonstrated pneumolabyrinth resulting from postsurgical fracture of the footplate of the stapes. Pneumolabyrinth is a newly reported CT finding in stapes footplate fracture.