Reliability of temporal bone high-resolution CT in patients with facial paralysis in temporal bone fracture

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the reliability of temporal bone high-resolution CT (HRCT) in patients with traumatic facial paralysis.

Methods: HRCT with cross-sectional scanning and multi-planar reformation (MPR) was performed on 26 cases with traumatic facial paralysis, and the preoperative imaging manifestations were compared with surgical findings.

Results: Preoperative HRCT revealed fallopian canal damage at the posterior genu in 1 case, geniculate ganglion in 22 cases, labyrinthine segment in 4 cases, tympanic segment in 13 cases and mastoid segment in 0 case, while surgical findings confirmed fallopian canal damage at the posterior genu in 7 cases, geniculate ganglion in 23 cases, labyrinthine segment in 4 cases, tympanic segment in 17 cases and mastoid segment in 7 cases. The accuracy of temporal bone HRCT in revealing damage at those segments of fallopian canal was 14.3%, 95.7%, 100%, 76.5, and 0%, respectively.

Conclusion: Temporal bone HRCT can generally estimate the extent of damage and provide important information for traumatic facial paralysis before surgery. However, it is unreliable in revealing the damage of fallopian canal at the posterior genu and mastoid segment.

Keywords: Fallopian canal; HRCT; Temporal bone; Traumatic facial paralysis.