Surgical anatomy of temporal bone using three-dimensional imaging techniques

Abstract

The anatomy of temporal bone is very complex, with many critical structures closely related with one another. However, most teaching books present two-dimensional images; studying anatomy from two-dimensional representations such as text or video may be insufficient to learn the many spatial relationships that exist within temporal bone. It is important to understand the complex topography of temporal bone and this is the main reason for conducting human dissections during medical training. The possible advantages of multi-view three-dimensional presentations in studying human anatomy have been reported. In this study, we dissected human temporal bone, and developed a system for three-dimensional visualization of the clinical anatomy of temporal bone.