Research | Funded Projects

ALTERAZIONI NEURORADIOLOGICHE NELLO SPETTRO OCULO-AURICOLO-VERTEBRALE

Patients with hemifacial microsomia and microtia will be considered and subgrouped according to the phenotype severity.Imaging data of OAVS patients (MRI studies including T1 and T2 sequences in all the orthogonal planes and petrous bone or head CT studies) will be collected. This neuroimaging study will assess: at MRI brain findings and the presence/absence of the signal void of the ICA; at CT the carotid bone canal, internal acoustic meatus, inner ear, facial nerve bony canal, oval window and ossicular chain abnormalities.The ICA will be considered: absent (no signal void at MRI and concomitant severe hypoplasia/absence of the carotid bone canal at CT), aberrant (ICA entering the skull base through an enlarged inferior tympanic canaliculus and coursing lateral to the cochlea at CT), anomalous (laterally, medially or anteriorly displaced carotid bone canal at CT) or normal. The internal acoustic meatus will be judged normal, stenotic (<2mm) or aplasic (absence of the internal acoustic porus). The inner ear evaluation will consider both cochlear and vestibular involvement ranging from aplasia to dysplasia. All MRIs and CTs will be evaluated in consensus by two experienced neuroradiologists blinded to the patients’ clinical findings. Statistical analysisStudy data will be analyzed by means of two-tailed Fisher’s exact test; statistical significance will be set at p<0.05.