Polytomography and congenital anomalies of the ear.

Conventional radiography and even high resolution computerized axial tomography leave much to be desired in demonstrating the minutiae of the anatomy of the temporal bone. Multidirectional tomography remains the examination of choice radiographically in cases of congenital anomalies of the temporal bone. Details of the inner, middle and even external ear in the presence of atresia are more clearly delineated by this method than any other to data. Such information is of inestimable value to the surgeon in the diagnosis and surgical correction of anomalies of the temporal bone. Important features of the vestibule, semicircular canals, cochlea, facial nerve, internal auditory canal, temporomandibular joint, pneumatization of the temporal bone, tegmen, tympanic cavity, ossicles, oval and round windows, jugular bulb and carotid artery and the external ear canal are discerned most clearly by multidirectional tomography.