Radiological, clinical and audiological evaluation of jugular bulb-vestibular aqueduct dehiscence

Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of jugular bulb-vestibular aqueduct dehiscence (JBVAD) in patients undergoing temporal bone multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) and assess the relationship between JBVAD and hearing loss with the findings of audiometry. Methods: About 1503 temporal bone MDCT scans were evaluated for the prevalence of JBVAD. Correlation of the imaging findings and audiometric data was performed. Patients were divided into two groups, those with and those without hearing loss, and were statistically compared. Results: Jugular bulb-vestibular aqueduct dehiscence was detected in 124 of the 1503 patients with a prevalence of 8.2%. MDCT images of 56 of the 124 patients were normal except for JBVAD (n=38) and close proximity of the jugular bulb (JB) and vestibular aqueduct (VA) (n=18). A total of 23 of 38 patients with JBVAD and 7 of 18 patients with close proximity of the JB and VA had hearing loss detected by audiometric evaluation. Conclusions: The most common hearing loss was detected as sensorineural hearing loss in patients with JBVAD. Also, median air and bone conduction and air bone gap values were found statistically higher in patients with hearing loss versus those without hearing loss.