"Münster correlation" in temporal bone: surgical relevance of an anatomical study

Resection of the temporal bone to various degrees provides different levels of access to lesions of the posterior fossa. However, precise distances to the petrosal bone are still not clearly described. We evaluated the different distances of temporal bone landmarks in order to assess their variations and the possible correlations between them. We also evaluated the surgical relevance of the possible correlations. An anatomical study was performed on 60 temporal bones from 60 human cadavers. All bones contained an adequate portion of the petrous apex and attached fossa dura. We analyzed the variation in different distances between landmarks and also the correlations between different measured distances. There was a statistically significant correlation between the distance between the inferior axial plane of the posterior semicircular canal to the superior plane of jugular bulb and the thickness of the mastoid cortex at the M point (M point was defined by the authors). This correlation is important for estimating the height of the jugular bulb during a lateral suboccipital craniotomy in cerebellopontine angle surgery. The Münster correlation is an easy and safe method for estimating the height of the jugular bulb in cerebellopontine angle surgery.