The bony labyrinth (also osseous labyrinth or otic capsule) is the rigid, bony outer wall of the

inner ear Inner Ear (established in 2007 in Bodø, Norway) is a Norwegian record label initiated and led by the brothers and jazz musicians Tore Johansen and Roger Johansen (musician), Roger Johansen. They opened Inner Ear to release their music when their ...

in the temporal bone. It consists of three parts: the

vestibule Vestibule or Vestibulum can have the following meanings, each primarily based upon a common origin, from early 17th century French, derived from Latin ''vestibulum, -i n.'' "entrance court". Anatomy In general, vestibule is a small space or cavity ...

semicircular canal The semicircular canals or semicircular ducts are three semicircular, interconnected tubes located in the innermost part of each ear, the inner ear. The three canals are the horizontal, superior and posterior semicircular canals. Structure The sem ...

s, and

cochlea The cochlea is the part of the inner ear involved in hearing. It is a spiral-shaped cavity in the bony labyrinth, in humans making 2.75 turns around its axis, the modiolus (cochlea), modiolus. A core component of the cochlea is the Organ of Cort ...

cochlea

. These are cavities hollowed out of the substance of the

bone A bone is a rigid tissue Tissue may refer to: Biology * Tissue (biology), an ensemble of similar cells that together carry out a specific function * ''Triphosa haesitata'', a species of geometer moth found in North America * ''Triphosa dubit ...

bone

, and lined by

periosteum The periosteum is a membrane Image:Schematic size.jpg, up150px, Schematic of size-based membrane exclusion A membrane is a selective barrier; it allows some things to pass through but stops others. Such things may be molecules, ions, or other sma ...

. They contain a clear fluid, the

perilymph Perilymph is an extracellular fluid located within the inner ear. It is found within the scala tympani and scala vestibuli of the cochlea. The ionic composition of perilymph is comparable to that of Blood plasma, plasma and cerebrospinal fluid. Th ...

, in which the

membranous labyrinth The membranous labyrinth is a collection of fluid filled tubes and chambers which contain the receptors for the senses of equilibrium and hearing. It is lodged within the bony labyrinth The bony labyrinth (also osseous labyrinth or otic capsule) is ...

is situated. A fracture classification system in which

temporal bone The temporal bones are situated at the sides and base of the skull The skull is a bone A bone is a Stiffness, rigid tissue (anatomy), tissue that constitutes part of the vertebrate skeleton in animals. Bones protect the various organs of ...

fractures detected on

are delineated based on disruption of the

otic capsule The bony labyrinth (also osseous labyrinth or otic capsule) is the rigid, bony outer wall of the inner ear in the temporal bone. It consists of three parts: the vestibule of the ear, vestibule, semicircular canals, and cochlea. These are cavities ho ...

has been found to be predictive for complications of temporal bone trauma such as facial nerve injury,

sensorineural Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) is a type of hearing loss in which the root cause lies in the inner ear or sensory organ (cochlea and associated structures) or the vestibulocochlear nerve (Cranial nerves, cranial nerve VIII). SNHL accounts for a ...

deafness Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss Hearing loss is a partial or total inability to hear Hearing, or auditory perception, is the ability ...

and

cerebrospinal fluid Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is a clear, colorless body fluid Body fluids, bodily fluids, or biofluids are liquid A liquid is a nearly incompressible In fluid mechanics or more generally continuum mechanics, incompressible flow (isochor ...

otorrhea. On radiographic images, the otic capsule is the most dense portion of the temporal bone. In

otospongiosis Otosclerosis is a condition of the middle ear where one or more foci of irregularly laid spongy bone replace part of normally dense enchondral layer of bony otic capsule in the bony labyrinth. This condition affects one of the ossicles (the stapes ...

, a leading cause of adult-onset hearing loss, the otic capsule is exclusively affected. This area normally undergoes no remodeling in adult life and is extremely dense. With otospongiosis, the normally dense enchondral bone is replaced by haversian bone, a spongy and vascular matrix that results in sensorineural hearing loss due to compromise of the conductive capacity of the inner ear ossicles. This results in hypodensity on CT, with the portion first affected usually being the '' fissula ante fenestram''.

References

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