TUESDAY, Aug. 8, 2023 (HealthDay News) — For patients with Meniere disease (MD), radiological temporal bone features known to be weakly or inconsistently associated with clinical diagnosis of MD are highly prevalent in one of two MD patient groups, according to a study published online June 26 in Scientific Reports.

David Bächinger, M.D., Ph.D., from the University Hospital Zurich, and colleagues examined the prevalence of radiological temporal bone features that previously showed a weak or inconsistent association with the clinical diagnosis of MD in two groups of MD patients with previously established distinct endolymphatic sac (ES) pathologies (MD-dg [ES degeneration] and MD-hp [ES hypoplasia]). Geometric temporal bone features, air cell tract volume, height of the jugular bulb, sigmoid sinus width, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) signal intensity alterations of the ES were compared between and within (affected versus nonaffected side) groups.

The researchers found that the retrolabyrinthine bone thickness, posterior contour tortuosity, and pneumatized volume were temporal bone features with significant intergroup differences. Within the MD-dg group, features with differences between the affected and nonaffected sides were the sigmoid sinus width and the MRI signal intensity of the ES.

“Expressional variability of radiological temporal bone features among MD patients can be explained by the existence of, at least two, different disease endotypes,” the authors write. “Future studies investigating the etiologies of MD, instead of including patients solely based on the clinical diagnosis of MD, may consider patient (sub)groups with genetically, pathologically, or clinically distinct endotypes to gather more meaningful data.”

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