Items tagged “middle ear”

Acquired cholesteatomas makeup 98% of all middle ear cholesteatomas and are almost always closely related to the tympanic membrane, from which most are thought to arise.  Clinical presentation The vast majority of acquired cholesteatomas develop as a result of chronic middle ear infection and ...

Cholesterol granuloma (CG), also sometimes called a chocolate cyst of the ear or blue domed cyst, is a special type of middle ear granulation tissue which is particularly prone to bleeding and is a frequent cause of a hemotympanum. Cholesterol granulomas represent the most common cystic lesion o...

Middle ear effusions are frequent in children due to prominent adenoids and horizontal Eustachian tubes. These do not require imaging, and can be treated expectantly / medically / surgically with tympanostomy tubes. Eustachian tube dysfunction is the accepted etiology, with resorption of air and...

The fissula ante fenestram (plural: fissula ante fenestras) is a small connective tissue-filled cleft in the otic capsule of the temporal bone, not typically visible on CT. The area around the fissula ante fenestram is the usual origin of fenestral otosclerosis. Gross anatomy The fissula ante ...

The tensor tympani muscle is a short muscle in the middle ear that arises from the superior surface of the cartilaginous part of the Eustachian tube, the greater wing of the sphenoid, and the petrous part of the temporal bone. It passes into the protympanum of the tympanic cavity, covered by the...

A useful mnemonic to remember innervation of the muscles of the middle ear is: ST Mnemonic S: stapedius is supplied by a branch of the facial nerve - the Seventh cranial nerve. It is also the Smallest muscle in the body, and inserts onto the neck of Stapes. T: tensor tympani is supplied by a...

The anterior epitympanic recess, also known as the supratubal recess, is a small discrete space in the epitympanum anterior to the malleus. It is separated from the epitympanum proper by the cog.