ABSTRACT
Post-traumatic cholesteatomas pose the medicolegal problem of determining the causal link between trauma and cholesteatoma. The author reports on an observation of an antro-attical cholesteatoma that occurred ten years after a fracture of the pars petrosa. The pathogeny of the different types of post-traumatic cholesteatoma is discussed. From a study of the literature, it is possible to distinguish between cholesteatomas of the external auditory canal which are revealed relatively soon after the trauma (less than 5 years), and cholesteatomas of the middle ear that can be revealed more than 10 years after the trauma.
Subject(s)
Cholesteatoma/etiology , Ear Diseases/etiology , Petrous Bone/injuries , Skull Fractures/complications , Adult , Child , Cholesteatoma/diagnostic imaging , Cholesteatoma/surgery , Ear Diseases/diagnostic imaging , Ear Diseases/surgery , Female , France , Humans , Legislation, Medical , Time Factors , Tomography, X-Ray ComputedABSTRACT
The modern imaging techniques (computed tomography, MRI), allow a new approach of the limits and contents of the infratemporal fossa. This better anatomical knowledge allows distinguishing three distinct subregions, hence providing better interdisciplinary understanding.
Subject(s)
Maxilla/anatomy & histology , Maxillary Artery/anatomy & histology , Pterygoid Muscles/anatomy & histology , Humans , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Maxilla/diagnostic imaging , Maxillary Artery/diagnostic imaging , Pterygoid Muscles/diagnostic imaging , Sphenoid Bone/anatomy & histology , Sphenoid Bone/diagnostic imaging , Tomography, X-Ray Computed , Zygoma/anatomy & histology , Zygoma/diagnostic imagingABSTRACT
We report about one case of neurofibroma in the infratemporal fossa, which was treated surgically through a transzygomatic approach. Lowering the zygomatic arch with the masseter muscle and raising the coronoid process with the temporalis muscles provides a wide access to the infratemporal region without any mutilation. This way of approach can be widened anteriorly towards the orbital frame in order to reach lateral orbital lesions, and posteriorly towards the mastoideum to resect large tumors extending into the base of the skull. The transzygomatic approach seems to be particularly appropriate for the exeresis of benign tumors in the infratemporal region.