The three small bones of the human middle ear—the malleus, incus and stapes—have been the subject of research since the mid fifteenth century (Arensburg et al., 1981). Consequently, knowledge of their anatomy and embryology is extensive (e.g. Schuknecht & Gulya, 1986; McPhee & Van de Water, 1988). Middle ear bones have also been well studied in other extant primates and in Neanderthals (e.g., M...

"Boomerang" malleus-incus fusion deformity is identified on axial high-resolution CT in a subset of patients with congenital aural atresia, and it is associated with an absent incudostapedial joint and stapes capitulum and attachment of the incus to the tympanic segment of the facial nerve canal. Twelve patients with this deformity were identified on a retrospective review of imaging from a coh...

This paper proposes a fully automated computational solution to segment the incus and malleus ear ossicles in conventional tri-dimensional (3D) X-ray computed tomography (CT) images. The solution uses a registration-based segmentation paradigm, followed by image segmentation refinement. It was tested against a dataset comprising 21 CT volumetric images of the ear acquired using standard protoco...

OBJECTIVE To investigate and analyze the relationship between individual ossicular erosion and air-bone gap (ABG) among patients with cholesteatoma. STUDY DESIGN Retrospective case review. SETTING Tertiary referral center. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Data from all patients undergoing an initial surgery for cholesteatoma were retrospectively reviewed to evaluate the relationships between preopera...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS The performance of an ossicular replacement prosthesis (ORP) is influenced by its alignment and appropriate tension between the tympanic membrane and the stapes footplate. A novel ORP with a flexible element that potentially allows for length adjustment in situ is presented and tested for acoustic performance. STUDY DESIGN Laser Doppler vibrometry in fresh human cadaveri...

The interposition sural nerve graft has been attempted occasionally during radical prostatectomy for the recovery of continence and erectile function; however, nerve autograft may result in adverse events for the patient. Here, we present our initial experiences using NerbridgeTM, a novel conduit for peripheral nerve regeneration, rather than utilizing sural nerve grafting, in robot-assisted la...

We have compared the sonographic findings of six femoral fractures with soft-tissue interposition which required open reduction with those of a control group of 40 other femoral fractures. Ultrasound assessment before operation showed that the fractured end of the proximal fragment had penetrated the quadriceps muscle anteriorly while the distal fragment lay beneath it. Transverse scans showed ...