title: Prevalence of radiographic semicircular canal dehiscence in very young children: an evaluation using high-resolution computed tomography of the temporal bones.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Previous studies suggest that semicircular canal dehiscences (SCDs) have a developmental origin.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We hypothesized that if SCDs originate during development, incidence of radiographic SCDs in young children will be higher than in adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-four temporal bone HRCTs of children younger than 2 years and 40 temporal bone HRCTs of patients older than 18 years were reformatted and re-evaluated for presence of SCD or canal thinning. Results were compared with indications for HRCT and clinical information.
  
  
  RESULTS
  SCDs were detected in 27.3% of children younger than 2 years of age (superior, 13.8%; posterior, 20%) and in 3% of adults (P                             < 0.004). Of children with one radiographic dehiscence, 55.6% had multiple and 44% had bilateral SCDs on HRCT. No lateral canal SCDs were present. Thinning of bone overlying the semicircular canals was found in 44% of children younger than 2 years and 2.5% of adults (P < 0.0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SCDs are more common on HRCTs of very young children. This supports the hypothesis that SCDs originate from discontinuation of bone deposition/maturation. However, SCDs on imaging do not necessarily correlate with canal dehiscence syndrome and should therefore be interpreted carefully.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA.
authors.forename: Mari
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hagiwara
authors.forename: Jamil A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Shaikh
authors.forename: Yixin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: Girish
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fatterpekar
authors.forename: Pamela C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Roehm
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007759:Labyrinth Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D009519:New York City / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012665:Semicircular Canals / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D013701:Temporal Bone / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*