Computed Tomography of the Petrous Bone in Otosclerosis and Meniere's Disease

摘要

The aim of this investigation was to examine if, in the case of otosclerosis and Meniere's disease, one could obtain more information with high resolution computer tomography than with conventional polytomography. In the first part of this thesis a brief survey of some principles of computer tomography is given and a computer tomographic atlas of the normal petrous bone in the otoradiologic planes used in this study. In the introduction of the second part some aspects of otosclerose are discussed (definition, clinical aspects). Subsequently a treatment is given of a part of the histopathology referring to the otospongiotic and otosclerotic changes in the labyrinthine capsule. A survey is given of preceding studies on the petrous bone in the case of otosclerosis; in these studies mostly classical planigraphic techniques were employed. In the third part some general aspects of Meniere's disease are discussed: definition, incidence, clinical aspects and pathophysiology. It is assumed that the symptoms of Meniere's disease are caused by an overpressure in the endolymphatic areas of the labyrinthum (hydrops), however till now a proof for this is still not given. The ductus endolympathicus, which passes through a channel in the petrous bone (the vestibular aqueduct), plays a role in the drainage of endolymph. Stagnation of this drainage could cause hydrops. 137 references, 60 figures, 45 tables. (Atomindex citation 18:089856)