Micro-magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Inner Ear

Abstract

Although the main pathological finding in patients with Meniere's disease is distention of the entire endolymphatic system i.e. endolymphatic hydrops, its diagnosis depends primarily upon a history of fluctuating hearing loss and tinnitus, episodic vertigo associated with vegetative symptoms. Therefore, development of a practical tool to obtain objective evidence of the existence of endolymphatic hydrops is important.
We applied a high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging devices running at 2.11T, 4.7T and 7.05T for the non-invasive depiction of the fine structure of the inner ear in the human and guinea pig. We have succeeded in depicting the basilar membrane and Reissner's membrane of the basal turn of the cochlea. In this paper, we showed our results of the fine MRI picture and raised the possibility of using MRI for the morphological diagnosis of endolymphatic hydrops (Meniere's disease).