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The evaluation of superior semicircular canal bone thickness and radiological patterns in relation to age and gender

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Abstract

Purpose

The present study aims to evaluate the superior semicircular canal (SSC) bone thickness and radiological patterns in relation to age and gender in a Turkish population using cone beam computed tomography (CBCT).

Methods

A total of 450 temporal bones were evaluated in the study by two examiners. The radiological patterns of SSC were categorized as follows: dehiscent, papyraceous, normal, thick and pneumatised patterns. The bone thickness of SSCs were measured.

Results

The mean bone thickness of the SSC for females was 1.079 ± 0.8 mm. For males, the mean bone thickness was 0.952 ± 0.6 mm. There was no significant difference between males and females for the mean bone thickness of the SSC. (p > 0.05) The normal pattern was found in 258 temporal bones (57.3%). Seventy-two cases (16%) were defined as “papyraceous pattern”; 23 cases (5.1%) were defined as “thick pattern” and 42 cases (9.3%) were defined as “pneumatised pattern”. SSC dehiscence was determined in 55 cases (12.2%). There was no significant difference between radiological patterns for age groups and gender (p > 0.05).

Conclusion

There was no significant relationship between SSC bone thickness with age and gender. The radiological patterns of SSC were not associated with age and gender. Radiologists evaluating the head and neck region for various reasons should be aware of these structures and report not only the SSC dehiscence but also the papyraceous pattern.

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Funding

The authors did not receive support from any organization for the submitted work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology, Faculty of Dentistry, Çukurova University, Adana, Turkey

    Burcu Evlice, Damla Soydan Çabuk & Hazal Duyan

Authors
  1. Burcu Evlice
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  2. Damla Soydan Çabuk
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  3. Hazal Duyan
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Contributions

BE: project development, manuscript writing, data collection, and image analysis; DSÇ: manuscript writing, data collection, and image analysis; HD: data collection and data analysis.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Damla Soydan Çabuk.

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Conflict of interest

All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

This retrospective study was independently reviewed and approved by Çukurova University Ethics Committee (year 2021; decision number 42). All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008.

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Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

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Evlice, B., Çabuk, D.S. & Duyan, H. The evaluation of superior semicircular canal bone thickness and radiological patterns in relation to age and gender. Surg Radiol Anat 43, 1839–1844 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-021-02797-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-021-02797-4

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