Jp. Harcourt et al., CT SCREENING FOR TEMPORAL BONE ABNORMALITIES IN IDIOPATHIC BILATERAL SENSORINEURAL HEARING-LOSS, Journal of Laryngology and Otology, 111(2), 1997, pp. 117-121
Bilateral sensorineural hearing loss can be caused by a variety of tem
poral bone abnormalities including primary cochlear otosclerosis,local
and systemic bony diseases and some metabolic conditions. These may b
e identified using computerized tomography (CT), with attenuation reco
rdings taken across the cochlear capsule (CT densitometry). Eighty pat
ients with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss were screened over a p
eriod of six and a half years using this technique, and only three cas
es (3.8 per cent) of treatable disease were detected. Positive yields
may be increased by screening selected cases with other clinical or bi
ochemical stigmata of temporal bone disease.