title: [The virtual image of the incus].
abstract: The virtual image of the incus formed by the saline lens is an aid to the safe dissection of the antrum. The saline irrigation fluid indeed may act as a thin negative lens which permits at the antrum the visualization of the image of the incus, around the corner of the bony canal wall overhang. This warning device, predicting the exposure of the incus, prevent in this way inadvertent contact of this ossicle by the power drill and subsequent acoustic trauma.
mesh_terms: D004210:Dissection / Q000379:methods; D004429:Ear Ossicles / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D007188:Incus / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D007507:Therapeutic Irrigation; D014432:Tympanic Membrane / Q000601:surgery
chemical_list: D012965:Sodium Chloride
vernacular_title: L'image virtuelle de l'enclume.