Inner ear structure of miniature pigs measured by multi-planar reconstruction techniques

American Journal of Translational Research

Kun Hou¹  Ling-Ling Zhong²  Yan Zhang³  Xiao-Jie Liang⁴ 

[1] Department of Otolaryngeal-Head Neck Surgery, The Army General Hospita of PLA, Beijing 100700, P. R. China;Department of Otolayngology, Head Neck Surgery, Institute of Otolaryngology of PLA, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, P. R. China;Department of Otolayngology, Head Neck Surgery, The Tianjin Childrens Hospital, Tianjin 300074, P. R. China;Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130021, Jilin, P. R. China

关键词: Miniature pig;    cochlea;    inner ear;    tomography X-ray computed;    image processing;    MPR;    cochlear implant;   

DOI  :  

学科分类：医学（综合）

来源: e-Century Publishing Corporation

【 摘 要 】

To study the structures of the scala vestibuli and tympani of miniature pigs in order to evaluate the feasibility of using miniature pigs as the animal model for cochlear implant. The temporal bones of three miniature pigs with normal hearing were scanned by micro-CT. With the aid of the Mimics software, we reconstructed the 3D structure of inner ear basing on the serial images of the miniature pig, and obtained dimensions of the scala vestibuli and tympani with multi-planar reconstruction (MPR) technique. The constructed slicing images displayed the fine structures of the cochlea. The results of our study showed that the cross-sectional areas of the scala tympani were greatest at 2.67 ± 0.90 mm2 when the circumferential length from the starting point of basal turn of the cochlea reached to 1.16 mm. The scala vestibuli has a largest width and height at the starting point of basal turn. The width and the height were 2.65 ± 0.45 mm and 2.43 ± 0.2 mm respectively. The largest width and height of the scala tympani were 2.17 ± 0.30 mm and 1.83 ± 0.42 mm. The result of our study suggests that the cochlea of miniature pigs is highly consistent with human’s. Miniature pigs may be used as a new model for cochlear implant. MPR technique may be used as a new approach to obtain further information of patient’s cochlea in surgeons which is helpful to select suitable cochlear implant devices and surgery approach.

【 授权许可】

CC BY-NC