Middle and inner ear: improved depiction with multiplanar reconstruction of volumetric CT data

Many anatomic structures of the middle and inner ear are not optimally depicted at computed tomography (CT) with image reconstruction in the standard axial and coronal planes. Recent advances in multidetector CT, including the development of scanners with 32 detector rows, allow the acquisition of isotropic voxels that can be reconstructed in any plane of section. This technique gives radiologists the opportunity to visualize the anatomic structures of the middle and inner ear (the ossicular chain, stapedial footplate-oval window complex, round window, cochlea, vestibular aqueduct, and bones of the superior semicircular canal and facial nerve canal) in greater detail and may help increase the accuracy of CT for the diagnosis of diseases of the middle and inner ear.