These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Normal Variant Occipital Pneumatization.
    Author: Tomblinson CM, Deep NL, Fletcher GP, Nelson KD, Patel AC, Weindling SM, Lane JI, Hoxworth JM.
    Journal: Otol Neurotol; 2018 Oct; 39(9):e872-e875. PubMed ID: 30080763.
    Abstract:
    OBJECTIVE: Evaluate prevalence and pattern of occipital pneumatization (OP). PATIENTS: Individuals with imaging evidence of OP on computed tomography (CT). INTERVENTION(S): High resolution CT scans of the temporal bone. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The prevalence and pattern of OP on 1000 CT scans performed at a large academic healthcare system. RESULTS: OP had a prevalence of 11.8% (n = 118) while occipital condyle pneumatization occurred in only 0.3%. Occipital air cells were right-sided in 27.1% (n = 32), left-sided in 51.7% (n = 61), and bilateral in 21.2% (n = 25), and OP was contiguous with the occipitomastoid suture. In cases of unilateral OP, the contralateral jugular foramen demonstrated relative enlargement (p = 0.006), but a direct association could not be established. CONCLUSIONS: The occipital bone is an accessory site of skull base pneumatization in 11.8% of the population undergoing temporal bone CT, while air cell extension into the occipital condyle occurs more rarely. These occipital air cells have a left-sided predilection and are always in direct proximity to the occipitomastoid suture, suggesting developmental egress from the mastoid. OP is a normal variant and lacks features of craniocervical pneumatization, which is a rare disorder.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]