title: Isolated congenital round window absence.
abstract: Absence of the round window as a congenital defect is a rare entity that causes a conductive hearing loss. To the best of our knowledge, isolated and nonsyndromal round window absence has only been reported 3 times; the diagnoses were made during surgery. We are reporting on another case that was diagnosed before operation by virtual endoscopy of the middle ear during a high-resolution computed tomography scan. Although this new technique requires further validation, it may be an alternative to surgery as a means of confirming this rare diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Centre Hospitalier et Universitaire de Saint-Etienne, France.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tringali
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bertholon
authors.forename: Jean-François
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Pouget
authors.forename: Jean-Michel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Prades
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004724:Endoscopy; D005260:Female; D006314:Hearing Loss, Conductive / Q000151:congenital* / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D012405:Round Window, Ear / Q000002:abnormalities*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014584:User-Computer Interface