Visualization of the middle ear with high resolution computed tomography and superfine fiberoptic videomicroendoscopy

Ten temporal bone blocks were dissected from fresh postmortem specimens from patients succumbing to diseases unrelated to the ears. A superfine fiberoptic videomicroendoscope (SFV) was introduced through the eustachian tube into the middle ear, and middle ear structures were visualized. The cadaver temporal bone blocks were also studied with high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT). When HRCT gave good results SFV did not succeed well and vice versa. However, SFV provided topographic anatomical information of the middle ear structures while HRCT gave cross-sectional images of the anatomy of the tympanic cavity. The different types of information obtained by the two imaging technologies supplement each other and were found to improve diagnosis in such cases as external ear canal atresia.