Imaging of the postoperative middle ear

Abstract

The aim of this article is twofold: (a) to present the principles and the indications of surgical treatment of middle ear pathologies; and (b) to review the imaging findings after middle ear surgery, including the normal postoperative aspects and imaging findings in patients presenting with unsatisfactory surgical results or with suspicion of postoperative complications. This review is intentionally restricted to the most common diseases involving the middle ear: chronic otitis media and otosclerosis. In these specific fields of interest, CT and MR imaging play a very important role in the postoperative follow-up and in the work-up of surgical failures and complications.

Diffusion-Weighted Intensity Magnetic Resonance in the Preoperative Diagnosis of Cholesteatoma

“…It is typically the case of an FN patient whose CT scan showed no erosion signs, while both EPI and not-EPI DWI-MR revealed the presence of cholesteatoma confirmed also during surgery (fig. 1, 2) [4,13,22,25]. …”

CT Findings in the External Auditory Canal after Transcanal Surgery

“…[12][13][14] Surgery is widely used to treat various middle ear conditions, including inflammatory disease, congenital malformations, trauma, and tumors. 4,5 Surgical approaches to the middle ear through the EAC may involve drilling the bony EAC walls to provide adequate exposure. [1][2][3] Extensive literature describes the postoperative appearance of the middle ear after such surgeries 4-11 and more extensive surgeries involving the external canal, such as canal wall down mastoidectomy.…”

“…Prior literature has predominantly focused on the appearance of the middle ear after surgery. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] We describe the CT appearance of the EAC after transcanal surgery so that postoperative change can be included in the differential diagnosis, even in the absence of available history, and erroneous diagnoses may be avoided.…”

Colesteatoma recurrente de presentación atípica con extensión zigomática. Descripción de un caso

“…El tratamiento de esta entidad es, sin embargo, a menudo complicado, constituyendo un enorme desafío para el cirujano otológico. Puede ocurrir persistencia o recurrencia, sobretodo en cavidades de mastoidectomía cerradas [4].…”