Middle ear ossicles
Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data
Citation:
Gaillard F, Hacking C, Worsley C, et al. Middle ear ossicles. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 06 Dec 2024) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-1789
Permalink:
rID:
1789
Article created:
Disclosures:
At the time the article was created Frank Gaillard had no recorded disclosures.
View Frank Gaillard's current disclosures
Last revised:
Disclosures:
At the time the article was last revised Craig Hacking had the following disclosures:
- Philips Australia, Paid speaker at Philips Spectral CT events (ongoing)
These were assessed during peer review and were determined to not be relevant to the changes that were made.
View Craig Hacking's current disclosures
Revisions:
13 times, by
11 contributors -
see full revision history and disclosures
Systems:
Sections:
Synonyms:
- Ossicular chain
There are three tiny articulating bones in the middle ear known as ossicles (from lateral to medial):
Their role is to mechanically amplify the vibrations of the tympanic membrane and transmit them to the cochlea where they can be interpreted as sound. They are located in the middle ear cavity and articulate with each other via two tiny synovial joints. The stapes also articulates with the oval window via the stapediovestibular joint, which is a syndesmosis 3; this joint transmits the ossicular vibrations to the endolymph in the vestibule.
Interestingly, they are the only bones in the body that do not grow after birth and are also the smallest bones in the body (variant tiny sesamoids aside).
Radiographic features
CT
On axial images (in the plane of the lateral semicircular canal), the normal landmarks of the ossicles can be remembered with the following mnemonic, from superior to inferior 4,5:
- ice cream cone (level of horizontal tympanic segment of facial nerve): incudomallear joint involving head of malleus (ice cream) and body of incus (top of cone), and short process of incus (tip of cone)
- two dots (level of oval window): neck of malleus (lateral dot) and long process of incus (medial dot)
- two dashes: handle/manubrium of malleus (lateral line), incudostapedial joint involving lenticular process of incus and head of stapes (medial line)
References
- 1. FRCS CSS. Last's Anatomy. Churchill Livingstone. (2011) ISBN:0702033952. Read it at Google Books - Find it at Amazon
- 2. Clemente CD. Anatomy. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. (2011) ISBN:1582558892. Read it at Google Books - Find it at Amazon
- 3. Tavernier L, Linthicum FH. Sesamoid bone in the stapediovestibular articulation with conductive hearing loss. (2006) Otology & neurotology : official publication of the American Otological Society, American Neurotology Society [and] European Academy of Otology and Neurotology. 27 (5): 741-2. doi:10.1097/01.mao.0000224077.32108.0d - Pubmed
- 4. Kelly HR. Temporal Bone Anatomy. American Society for Head and Neck Radiology. 2017. Slides
- 5. De Brucker Y, Allemeersch GJ, Buisseret T, de Mey J. Basic and advanced temporal bone anatomy using different figures as landmarks. European Congress of Radiology. 2017. doi: 10.1594/ecr2017/C-2478
Incoming Links
Articles:
- Animal and animal produce inspired signs
- Cochlear aplasia
- Treacher Collins syndrome
- External auditory canal atresia
- Tympanic membrane retraction
- Branchio-oto-renal dysplasia
- Congenital ossicular anomalies
- Ossicular chain fixation
- Stapes
- Incudomalleolar joint
- Ossicles
- Axial skeleton
- Tympanic paraganglioma
- Incus
- Malleus
- Middle ear
- Mesotympanum
- Paget disease (bone)
- Tympanic membrane
- Ice cream cone sign (vestibular schwannoma)
Cases:
- Ossicles (Gray's illustrations)
- Middle ear ossicles
- Incudomalleolar dislocation
- Odontoid fracture and incudomalleolar disruption
- Cochlear incomplete partition - type II
- Incudomalleolar dislocation
- Automastoidectomy with labyrinthine fistula
- Epidural hematoma, temporal bone fracture and incudomalleolar joint disruption
- Cholesteatoma - external auditory canal
- Keratosis obturans
- Middle ear anatomy (illustration)
- Deossification of ossicles in chronic suppurative otitis media
- Normal temporal bone CT
- Malleus: annotated CT
- Stapes: annotated CT
- Incus: annotated CT
- Incus: anatomy illustration
- Ossicles (illustration)
- Comminuted mixed temporal bone fracture
- Chronic otomastoiditis
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