Morphological Characteristics of Round Window Niche in Congenital Aural Atresia and Stenosis Patients.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to measure the round window niche (RWN) among congenital aural atresia (CAA), congenital aural stenosis (CAS) and control groups and to analyze whether differences exist between them.


METHODS
Computed tomography images of 10 normal subjects (20 ears), 27 CAS patients (30 ears) and 25 CAA patients (30 ears) were analyzed. We measured RWN on the basis of 3-dimensional reconstruction.


RESULTS
The anterior wall length and the depth of RWN were smaller in control group than those in the CAS group; furthermore, the anterior wall length and the depth of RWN in CAS group were smaller than those in CAA group (P < 0.05). The posterior wall length of RWN was found smaller in the control group than that in both hCAS and CAA groups (P < 0.05). The superior and inferior wall lengths of RWN were found smaller in control group than those in the CAA group (P < 0.05). There were no statistically significant differences in the sizes of the round window membrane and niche opening or the angle between the plane of the RWN opening and the round window membrane plane among all groups.


CONCLUSIONS
The RWN walls lengths and its depth tended to be longer with the aggravation of the aural malformations. Our calculation results may provide some information for a better design and a safer implantation of the floating mass transducer in the area of RWN.
From the *Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Eye and ENT Hospital, †Experimental Center, Eye and ENT Hospital, Fudan University; and ‡Hearing Medicine Key Laboratory, National Ministry of Public Health, Shanghai, China.
Keguang
K
Chen
Huiying
H
Lyu
Youzhou
Y
Xie
Lin
L
Yang
Tianyu
T
Zhang
Peidong
P
Dai
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D000013:Congenital Abnormalities / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D003251:Constriction, Pathologic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D004423:Ear / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008297:Male; D061330:Multidetector Computed Tomography / Q000379:methods; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012405:Round Window, Ear / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D055815:Young Adult