The influence of temporal bone anatomical variation upon the caloric stimulus

This study involved a comparison of temperature changes occurring in isolated cadaveric temporal bones as a result of caloric stimulation, with information gained from radiological examination of the bones by means of high resolution computed tomographic scanning. This was performed in order to investigate the complex nature of heat transfer within the temporal bone and the influence which anatomical variations may have upon the accuracy of evaluation of vestibular function by means of the caloric test. No significant correlation could be found between the maximum temperature change occurring across the lateral semicircular canal and any of the parameters obtained from radiological assessment except for the diameter of the internal auditory meatus. It was deduced that an intra-subject difference in the diameters of the internal auditory meatus of 0.5 mm would introduce an absolute error in the evaluation of percentage canal paresis of 10%. Since normal intra-subject differences in internal meatus diameter can exceed 0.5 mm, this finding was considered to be highly significant.