Temporal Bone, Middle Skull Base, and Cerebellopontine Angle

Abstract

Many different diseases affect the temporal bone and the middle skull base. The clinician encounters mainly diseases of the middle and inner ear. Common examples of middle ear disorders are acute and chronic otitis media, cholesteatoma, otosclerosis, congenital abnormalities, and fractures of the temporal bone. Disorders of the inner ear include congenital and acquired sensorineural hearing loss, sudden deafness, presbyacusis, noise-induced hearing impairment, ototoxicity of various causes, metabolic hearing loss, Meniere’s disease, and labyrinthitis. Tumors are relatively rare but may involve the middle ear, mastoid, and temporal bone primarily, metastatically, or by extension from a contiguous area. Acoustic neuroma is important in the differential diagnosis of sudden hearing loss, vertigo, and tinnitus. Many inner ear diseases show one or more of these symptoms, and if the origin of such a disease is unclear an acoustic neuroma must be excluded.