Ankurkumar Zaverbhai Patel1
BACKGROUND
The complicated middle and inner ear anatomy challenge the diagnostic ease in
radiological evaluation of the temporal bone. Their tiny dimension and close
neighbouring of the structures limited the successful imaging facilities for long
periods of time. Conventional radiological procedures have been inadequate for
diagnostic imaging but recently multidirectional tomography and high-resolution
computed tomography (HRCT) has gained importance. Inflammatory and
infectious diseases of the temporal bone are a major indication to perform highresolution
CT. Such studies allow one to evaluate the extent of the disease in the
soft tissues and in the bony structures of the temporal bone. The purpose of this
study was to evaluate temporal bone infectious pathologies using high resolution
computed tomography (HRCT).
METHODS
The study is completely observational & retrospective type of study. HRCT of
temporal bone was carried out on 50 cases with SIEMENS SOMATOM emotion 16
slice CT scan machine, GMERS Medical College & Hospital, Valsad, Gujarat
depending upon the availability from February 2019 to January 2020 including all
age groups, both sexes with suspicion of temporal bone infective pathologies
based on sign and symptoms.
RESULTS
Out of 50 patients, 38 patients were diagnosed with chronic suppurative otitis
media (CSOM) and 12 patients were diagnosed with acute suppurative otitis
media (ASOM), of which 65 % of CSOM showed cholesteatoma formation. All the
patients with ASOM showed air-fluid levels. Male to female ratio was nearly 1.77
: 1. Out of which, 52 % were paediatric patients. Common symptoms were ear,
discharge, headache and deafness. Most commonly affected site was right side.
There were 6 extra cranial and 2 intracranial complications seen.
CONCLUSIONS
Due to the ability to delineate the bony and soft tissue anatomy with high
accuracy, high-resolution CT is the imaging modality of choice for topographic
evaluation of temporal infective pathologies and their extracranial and
intracranial complications.
