Abstract
Although a high jugular bulb (HJB) is an abnormal venous formation in the lateral bone, which we otorhinolaryngologists often encounter, it is a very rare that symptoms are caused by HJB and very few such cases have been treated by surgery. In this report, we describe our experience that it could not help giving up removing an auditory tumor using a trans-labyrinthine technique due to HJB. The patient received later underwent a suboccipital craniotomy. We next examined the height of the HJB where the auditory tumor had been removed by the trans-labyrinthine technique. As a result, it thought that a safe exposure using the trans-labyrinthine technique was achievable if there was a one-mm interval between the top of the fossa jugularis and the bottom of the internal auditory canal. When performing lateral skull base surgery in order to treat an auditory tumor in a patient who has a HJB, the size and the characteristic shape of HJB should be sufficiently evaluated before performing surgery, and a suitable surgical formular should be selected according to the HJB.
