[Advantage of virtual endoscopy in the evaluation of the ossicular chain].
OBJECTIVE
Our study consists of a comparison of traditional computed tomography (CT) data sets with 2 views of virtual endoscopy in the preoperative evaluation of various diseases of the middle ear.


METHODS
We studied 59 patients, all sent for conductive hearing loss with normal eardrum who underwent a complete CT examination: axial helical acquisition and coronal incremental acquisition: virtual endoscopy with selection of two reproducible views: an external one of the auditory canal and a lower one of the hypotympanum. Reading was performed by 2 independent radiologists. All patients were subsequently operated by the same surgeon. Results were compared with surgical reports.


RESULTS
Virtual endoscopy is valuable for the evaluation of ossicular and prosthesis dislocations, morphological anomalies of the malleus, incus, and stapes superstructure. Nevertheless, standard axial and coronal CT images remain necessary as confirmed by the poor results of virtual endoscopy in cases of attic obstruction, cholesteatomas and otospongiosis.


CONCLUSIONS
Virtual endoscopy is a valuable technique of the evaluation of some ossicular chain pathologies but it cannot be used alone.
Pauriol-Lacaze
S
S
Service de Radiologie, CHU Hôpital Nord, avenue Albert Raimond, 42055 Saint-Etienne 2.
Pouget
J F
JF
Michel
F
F
Martin
C
C
Veyret
C
C
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D004427:Ear Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D004429:Ear Ossicles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D004724:Endoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed