Three-Dimensional Observation of Man-Made Tiny Lesion Models in Temporal Bone

The small size and complex components of the ear need application of high resolution imaging techniques for accurate depiction of their anatomy (Hermans et al. 1995). In practice, high resolution images are delivered by HRCT whose spatial resolution is about 0.5–1.0 mm (Hermans et al. 1995; Bellos et al. 2014), but some tiny lesions (their diameters are about 1 mm or less, or called micro-lesions) are very difficult to be identified by HRCT scan because of the partial volume effect. These tiny lesions such as the dislocation, fenestration, and fracture of the stapedial footplates, the dislocation of incudostapedial articulation, dehiscence of fallopian canal, fenestration of the promontory (cochlear implant), and so on are not unusual in otology practice. As one of the state-of–the-art techniques (Clark and Badea 2014), micro-CT scan may provide beneficial information in exploring micro-architecture because of its extra high resolution (5–80 μm). In this chapter, we will use this technique (pixel size about 30 μm) to verify its ability to find those lesions and aim to provide artificial models for clinical diseases.