The relationship between the angulation of styloid process and unilateral chronic otit

The styloid process is the cylindrical shaped part of the temporal bone that forms the ear structure. Normal length varies according to age and gender, but does not exceed 30 mm. The angulation of SP is found to be etiologically significant in diseases that are thought to be related recently. Chronic otitis media(COM) is a chronic inflammation of the middle ear and mastoid cells. Eustachi dysfunction, factors causing Eustachian obstruction (Adenoid vegetation etc.) and anatomical structure of temporal bone play a role in chronic otitis etiology. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether the angulation of the anterior and medial angulation of the normal side with the chronic otitis side and the SP on the anterior and medial side causes COM by making eustachian dysfunction, which is the most important etiology of chronic otitis. Multislice Temporal Bone Computed Tomography (CT) images (Toshiba Medical Systems, Multislice CT System, AlexionTM / Advance Edition) taken from the archives of the T.C Ministry of Health Istanbul Şişli Hamidiye Etfal Training and Research Hospital Radiology Department. 100 patients (51 Male, 49 Female) aged 18-65 with unilateral COM were included in the study. From the images, the angulation of the SP to the medial on the coronal plan and the angulation to the anterior to the sagittal plane were measured. Total number of cases included in the study is 100. 51 of the cases included were male (51%) and 49 (49%) were female. Pathology is on the right side in 54 cases (54%) and on the left side in 46 cases (46%). The average age of the cases included in the study is 42.82 ± 12.6, the minimum age is 18 and the maximum age is 65. Pathology was detected on the right in 31 of 51 male cases and pathology on the left in 20 of them. Pathology was observed on the right in 23 of 49 female cases and on the left in 26 cases. The frequency of detection of more pathology was observed in men on the right and in women on the left. No significant correlation was found in comparison of the side with gender and pathology (p = 0.165). On the side with pathology, medial angulation was 21.89 ± 6.6, minimum 9, maximum 39.2; On the normal side, an average of 21.37 ± 6.21, a minimum of 8.5 and a maximum of 40.1 were detected, and the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.71). On the side with pathology, the anterior angulation was 24.64 ± 8.56, minimum 5.1, maximum 44.2; On the normal side, anterior angulation was determined as 24.99 ± 8.1, minimum 7.6, maximum 43.9, and the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.807). In our study, no statistically significant relationship was found between COM and SP anterior and medial angulations. However, the absence of a significant difference may be due to the unknown etiology of patients with COM. Keywords: Styloid process, Styloid process angulation, Chronic otitis media, Eustachi tube