title: Case report: prolonged contrast enhancement of the inner ear on magnetic resonance imaging in Ramsay Hunt syndrome.
abstract: There have been recent reports of enhancement of the inner ear in acute labyrinthitis on gadolinium enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, none has described persistence of enhancement beyond 6 weeks. We report a case of Ramsay Hunt syndrome with labyrinthitis, sensorineural hearing loss and facial nerve palsy in which marked enhancement of the inner ear structures was observed on MRI 6 months after the onset of symptoms. Enhancement on delayed or repeated imaging after a period of months does not exclude labyrinthitis from the differential diagnosis of the small intracanalicular acoustic neuroma, and care should be taken not to confuse them.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, St Thomas' Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Downie
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Howlett
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Koefman
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Banerjee
authors.forename: K A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Tonge
mesh_terms: D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D007758:Ear, Inner / Q000473:pathology*; D005682:Gadolinium; D016697:Herpes Zoster Oticus / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009464:Neuroma, Acoustic / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D005682:Gadolinium