THE DIAGNOSTIC AND ETIOLOGICAL CONTRIBUTION OF SECTIONAL IMAGING IN DEAFNESS (ABOUT 80 CASES)

Introduction: Deafness is defined as hearing impairments that can occur at any age and can be of genetic or idiopathic origin. They can occur both abruptly and gradually. The aim of this work is to underline the diagnostic and above all etiological contribution of spiral CT and MRI during deafness, which makes it possible to orient the therapeutic conduct.

Materials and methods: We conducted a prospective work on patients explored in the radiology department of August 20 Hospital in Casablanca for deafness apart from chronic otitis media and post-traumatic deafness, between March 2012 and December 2013. 43 patients were explored by computed tomography (CT) of the rocks with multiplanar reconstructions (16 strips) and 37 patients were explored by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) 1.5 Tesla.

Results: There were 80 patients with an average age of 42 years. There was a female predominance (55 women for 25 men). Hearing loss was bilateral (75%), usually symmetrical 3 times greater than unilateral involvement (25%). This deafness was sudden in 30 patients (37.5%) and progressive installation in 50 patients (62.5%). Conductive hearing loss was found in 22 cases (27.5%), sensorineural hearing loss in 22 cases (27.5%) and mixed hearing loss in 36 cases (45%). The etiological diagnoses were as follows: 18 cases of otosclerosis (22.5%), 7 cases of CSL agenesis (8.75%), 10 cases of cerebellopontine angle tumor (12.5%), 12 cases of paraganglioma jugulo - tympanic (15%), 7 cases of vasculo-nervous crossing (8.75%) and 26 cases which turned out to be normal (32.5%).

Conclusion: The determination of the causes of deafness has greatly benefited from the development of medical imaging. They benefit from medical and/or surgical treatment essentially depending on their mechanism, their severity and the results of imaging based on the CT-MRI pair.