THE COMMON CAVITY CONGENITAL DEFORMITY OF THE INNER-EAR - AN IMPORTANT PRECURSOR OF MENINGITIS DESCRIBED IN 1838

Congenital deformity of the osseous labyrinth of the inner ear is well recognized as being associated with a fistulous communication with th e intracranial subarachnoid space in some cases, leading to meningitis or a spontaneous 'stapes gusher'. Such cases have been described inap propriately as 'Mondini's dysplasia'. We cite 2 patients who both died of meningitis and had an accurate postmortem anatomical appraisal of the deformed temporal bones, one recently described by us and one by C ock more than 150 years ago. The use of eponyms is to be deprecated bu t should faithfully reflect the original description. The 'common cavi ty' lesion of the inner ear is a most important precursor of otogenic meningitis readily assessed by computed tomography and needing surgery to prevent the egress of cerebrospinal fluid or ingress of pathogens causing meningitis.