OBJECTIVE To provide a detailed anatomic description of middle ear endoscopy via different approaches. METHOD Using 0, 30 and 90 degree rigid endoscopes, 6 dry temporal bones and 11 temporal bone blocks were examined to define the average range of view obtained by three approaches: 1. via the external ear canal approach; 2. via a retroauricular incision: including two subdivided routes, the m...

OBJECTIVE To identify factors that significantly influence myringoplasty success. METHODS A retrospective study was performed of all adults and children who underwent myringoplasty from January 2005 to January 2010 in a teaching hospital. Outcome measures were tympanic membrane perforation closure and air-bone gap closure to within 20 dB HL. The factors assessed were the surgeon grade, pre-op...

The amniote middle ear is a classical example of the evolutionary novelty. Although paleontological evidence supports the view that mammals and diapsids (modern reptiles and birds) independently acquired the middle ear after divergence from their common ancestor, the developmental bases of these transformations remain unknown. Here we show that lower-to-upper jaw transformation induced by inact...

When otologic procedures that involve tympanic membrane repairs are performed, biomaterials or biological tissues as normal as grafts are used. At the moment, biological material from the own patient is used with varying success rates. The procedure used and the patient's tissue repair capabilities tend to determine the outcome. We present a preliminary study on tympanic membrane perforation re...

Secretory otitis media (SOM) is one of the causes of permanent hearing loss. The key factor in the pathogenesis of the SOM is a chronic under-atmospheric middle ear (ME) pressure, which is assigned mainly to an altered ME gas exchange in combination to an impaired Eustachian tube (ET) function. Recent research pointed to the importance of the mastoid in the ME pressure balance related to ambien...

OBJECTIVES To determine the relationship in detail between the tympanic and the labyrinthine segments of the facial nerve and the relationship between the bony structures and the neighboring nerve. MATERIALS AND METHODS Measurement of the length of the segment of the facial nerve within the internal auditory canal and the lengths of the labyrinthine and tympanic segments were made on fourteen...

INTRODUCTION There appears to be no relationship between the size of tympanic perforations and hearing loss. Some studies in the literature have assessed this connection, with conflicting data and without proper methodology, especially concerning the measurement of the size of the perforation, which was performed in a subjective manner. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the size of tympanic perforations ...

We used a surgical procedure suggested by Murata et al. and inserted a T-silicon plate from the tympanic cavity into the opening of the eustachian tube in 2 cases of chronic otitis media. The goal of this surgery was to promote the regeneration and the epithelization of residual mucosa of the eustachian tube. In our results, epitheliums of regenerated tympanic mucosa were histologically examine...

A morphological study of the human tympanic plexus was performed. The tympanic nerve patterns on the promontory were classified into two types. The first was the single nerve trunk type, the second the type of nerve which divides into anterior and posterior branches. A tubal branch and a caroticotympanic branch on the promontory were both present in about 90% of the ears studied. Many ganglion ...