Imaging Evaluation in Otosclerosis: Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography and Computed Tomography

Objectives: The aim of our study was to demonstrate the utility of diphosphonate bone single. photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in diagnosing otosclerosis and to correlate the findings from SPECT with age. gender, and sensorineural hearing loss We also evaluated the ability of high-resolution computed tomography (HR-CT) in detecting otospongiotic and otosclerotic foci and correlated the HR-CT findings with the SPECT results Methods: Seventy-three subjects with surgically confirmed otosclerosis underwent SPECT. and 45 of the 73 patients also underwent HR-CT of the petrous bones Results: In the patient sample examined in this study. SPECT demonstrated a sensitivity of 95 2% and a specificity of about 96 7% By con elating the SPECT findings, we found an inverse relationship between bone radioactivity and age greater disease activity in younger patients and a direct relationship between bone radioactivity and the seventy of sensorineural impairment in younger patients In the 45 patients who also underwent HR-CT. the sensitivity of HR-CT (58%) was lower than that of SPECT, and the comparison between SPECT activity and the HR-CT findings (fenestral or retrofenestral type) demonstrated a statistically significant correlation between the morphological finding of bone demineralization (pericochlear foci) and a high uptake index Conclusions: The use of SPECT seems to be highly effective in differentiating normal from pathological petrous bone It also provides a quantitative evaluation of disease activity and shows a significant correlation with bone demineralization revealed by HR-CT