Diseases of the temporal bone

Abstract

High-resolution CT is best suited to look at the external and middle ear but can also provide information about ‘the inner ear’. For many years multi-detector CT (MDCT) was the method of choice [1, 2], but recently high-end cone beam CT (CBCT) started to challenge MDCT. CBCT not only provides similar information at a substantially lower dose but high-end CBCTs are also able to produce images with a spatial resolution down to 125 µm. Subtle bone structures like the footplate, crura of the stapes, walls of the tympanic segment of the facial nerve canal, tegmen tympani, etc. can be visualised in a more reliable way at this resolution and open possibilities to more accurately depict pathology associated with these structures. An additional advantage is that images can be displayed in any plane without quality loss which is not the case on reformatted MDCT images. Therefore the difference between MDCT and CBCT even becomes more obvious on coronal or double-oblique images.