The aim of this study was to present a comprehensive three-dimensional (3D) morphology of the petrous bone with computer image-processing technology, which could be beneficial for the teaching of anatomy and for surgical procedures. The unstained celloidin sections of human temporal bone were digitized with high resolution and quality, and then processed with Amira® software to include alignment, segmentation and reconstruction. The integral structure of the human inner ear was presented with computer modeling, including the petrous bone, bone labyrinth, internal carotid artery canal, internal jugular vein canal, sigmoid sinus, inferior petrosal sinus, glossopharyngeal meatus, vagal meatus, internal acoustic meatus, facial nerve canal, greater superficial petrosal nerve, vestibular aqueduct, extraosseous portion of the endolymphatic sac, round and oval window, processus cochleariformis and pyramidal eminence. The 3D model showed detailed structure of the external and internal petrous bone, as well as their spatial relationship. The present study suggests the feasibility of comprehensive 3D reconstruction of the petrous bone using unstained celloidin sections, which may provide advantages for future study.
Keywords: petrous bone; serial unstained celloidin sections; spatial relationships; three-dimensional reconstruction.