title: Tomograms of the arterial system of the human fetal auditory apparatus obtained by very-high-resolution microfocus X-ray CT and 3D reconstruction.
abstract: A series of 500 tomograms and 3D reconstructions of the small arterial vessels of the human fetal auditory apparatus were obtained for the first time by employing very-high-resolution microfocus X-ray computed tomography (MFXCT, mu-CT) with injection of contrast medium into the fetal aorta. Contrast images were obtained with barium sulfate (BaSO4) but not with iopamidol (C17H12I3N3O8). The anterior, posterior, superior, and inferior tympanic arteries, internal carotid artery, internal auditory artery, deep auricular artery, and stylomastoid artery were identified on tomograms of a crown-rump length (CRL) 224-mm fetus. MFXCT tomograms of some arteries about 30 microns in diameter were successfully obtained by the present method despite the difficulty associated with injection of contrast medium into 40-year-old specimens that had been perfused with formalin. This procedure is very useful for making anatomical observations without subjecting the specimens to any mechanical stress.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Tokyo Women's Medical University, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shibata
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nagano
mesh_terms: D000792:Angiography; D001158:Arteries / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000196:embryology; D001466:Barium Sulfate; D003287:Contrast Media; D007758:Ear, Inner / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000196:embryology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D001466:Barium Sulfate