EPI-DWI may be a useful tool in differentiating between cholesteatomatous and noncholesteatomatous tissues after closed cavity mastoidectomy. Further investigations are, however, required to establish the practical utility of EPI-DWI on larger series as a screening modality in the follow-up after closed cavity mastoidectomies.
The hypothesis that the close contiguity between the cholesterol granulomas and some rich blood sources provided the trigger to the aggressive nature of tympanomastoid cholesterol granulomas has been recently reported. To corroborate this new etiopathogenetic theory we retrospectively reviewed a series of 14 patients with primary middle ear and mastoid cholesterol granulomas and investigated the temporal bone marrow invasion and its hematopoietic potentialities and a possible cholesterol granulomas contiguity with relevant vascular structures such as the carotid artery, sigmoid jugular system, mastoid or dural vein. Eight cases did not show radiological sign of bone marrow invasion or hematopoietic potentialities visible in MRI. Besides no intraoperative vascular connections that could explain an initial bleeding source were found. Cholesterol granulomas bone marrow invasion was present in six patients. A bone marrow hematopoietic potentiality was showed in four of these patients, whereas, an evident anatomical contiguity of the cholesterol granuloma with some important temporal bone vascular structures was visible in five cases. Analysis of cardiovascular risk factors showed that four patients presented one or more of the risk factors analysed.
Patients with a stainless steel multibracket orthodontic appliance should remove it before cervical vertebrae, cervical region, paranasal sinuses, and head and neck MRI scans. The brain and temporomandibular joint region MRI should not require the removal of such appliances.
In our patients, Class 1 or 2 hearing was preserved in 50% of the patients, with no persistence or tumoral relapse. The follow-up has obviously been short, but the first results are encouraging and deserve to be studied further in a more comprehensive survey.
Intralabyrinthine schwannomas are benign, slow-growing tumors that originate from Schwann cells lining the terminal ends of the cochlear and vestibular nerves. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with gadolinium is considered the best diagnostic tool for this disease. Kennedy et al proposed a classification system, based upon the MRI observations, that identifies seven different classes according to the site of the tumor: intravestibular, intracochlear, intravestibulocochlear, transmodiolar, transmacular, transotic, and tympanolabyrinthine. A case of a patient undergoing a 2-year follow-up with serial MRI and managed with a wait-and-see strategy is described. The rationale of the diagnosis and the different treatments of choice are discussed.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.