COULD ANATOMICAL VARIATIONS IN THE TEMPORAL BONE HAVE A ROLE IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF BELL'S PARALYSIS?
1Sivas Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Sivas Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi KBB Anabilim Dalı, Sivas, Türkiye2 Erbaa Devlet Hastanesi, Kulak Burun Boğaz ve Baş Boyun Cerrahisi, Tokat, Türkiye
3Lokman Hekim Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi KBB Anabilim Dalı, Ankara Aim: The pathogenesis of Bell's palsy (BP) has not been clearly demonstrated today. Studies have shown that anatomically narrow diameter of the facial canal may play a role in the etiology of BP. However, we could not find a study investigating the possible relationship between facial paralysis with a high jugular bulb, sinus tympani depth, anteriorly located sigmoid sinus, large cochlear aquaducktus, and wide internal acoustic meatus in patients with BP. For this reason, we evaluated the temporal bone CT scans of the cases who were followed up and treated with the diagnosis of BP in our clinic in the last 5 years and the possible roles of these variations in the pathogenesis of BP. We aimed to research.
Materials and Methods: Temporal bone computed tomography (CT) images of 110 patients diagnosed with BP in our clinic retrospectively; High jugular bulb, depth of sinus tympani, anteriorly located sinus sigmoid, enlarged cochlear aquaduckt and enlarged internal acoustic meatus were evaluated. The side of the cases whose BP was not observed was considered as the control group (Group K), and the sides with BP observed were considered as the study group (Group BP).
Results: Statistically significant difference between Group BP and Group K in terms of evaluated anatomical variations was observed only in the large internal acoustic meatus (p< 0.005). No statistically significant difference was observed in the in-group and between-group evaluations based on gender.
Conclusion: Results from this retrospective study show that there is no statistically significant relationship between BP and high jugular bulb, sinus tympani depth, anteriorly located sigmoid sinus, large cochlear aquaducktus and wide internal acoustic meatus. However, we believe that our findings should be supported by using more detailed imaging and radiological measurement methods in large case series.
Keywords : Bell's palsy, temporal bone, anatomical variations