To clarify the possible pathological conditions of cartilaginous portion of the Eustachian tube (ET) and its surrounding tissues.
Retrospective review.
Twenty-five normal subjects (control group) and 25 patients with patulous ET (patulous group).
We reconstructed cross-sectional 3 Tesla magnetic resonance (MR) images using the multiplanar reconstruction (MPR) technique. Cross-section area widths that were measured included the following: 1) inferior head of lateral pterygoid muscle (PM); 2) pterygoid venous plexus (PVP); 3) medial soft tissues of ET, including ET cartilage; and 4) maximum cross-sectional area of high intensity surrounding the medial ET lumen.
A statistically significant difference was found in the thickness of the inferior head of the lateral PM between male and female; it was thicker in the male participants. Ostmann's fatty tissue (OF) was significantly smaller in the patulous ET group.
Smaller size of the surrounding tissues of the ET, viz., the OF, may contribute to the pathogenesis of patulous ET.
*Department of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
†Department of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, Nagasaki Medical Center
‡Department of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, Nagasaki Harbor Medical Center
§Division of Radiological Science, Department of Radiology and Radiation Biology, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan
Address correspondence and reprint requests to Haruo Yoshida, M.D., Department of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, 1-7-1 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8501, Japan; E-mail: y-haruo@f6.dion.ne.jp
The authors disclose no conflicts of interest.
