MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING OF INTRATEMPORAL FACIAL-NERVE LESIONS IN THE ANIMAL-MODEL

The facial nerve is often injured in head trauma, Computed tomography (CT) is the diagnostic study most frequently used to evaluate temporal bone fractures, but it does not demonstrate all soft tissues well. Re cently, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been used to evaluate cer tain soft tissues, including cranial nerves. Experience with MRI evalu ation of temporal bone trauma is limited and consists primarily of ane cdotal reports, This study assesses the accuracy of MRI in evaluating experimentally induced acute intratemporal facial nerve lesions, The t ympanic segments of the right facial nerve in nine rabbits were contus ed, and MRI scans were performed without and with gadolinium-diethyl-t riamine-pentaacetic acid (Gd-DTPA) at varying intervals after surgery, MRI with Gd-DTPA accurately identified the lesion site in eight of ni ne subjects, Gd-DTPA-enhanced MRI appears to be useful in the evaluati on of traumatic facial nerve injuries.