Pathologic changes of the peripheral vestibular system secondary to Chronic Otitis media

To evaluate the histopathologic changes of dark, transitional, and hair cells of the vestibular system in human temporal bones from patients with chronic otitis media. Study Design Comparative human temporal bone study. Setting Otopathology laboratory. Subjects and Methods To compare the density of vestibular dark, transitional, and hair cells in temporal bones with and without chronic otitis media, we used differential interference contrast microscopy. In the chronic otitis media group (as compared with the age-matched control group), the density of type I and type II hair cells was significantly decreased in the lateral semicircular canal, saccule, and utricle (P .1). The findings of our study suggest that the decrease in the number of vestibular sensory cells and dark cells could be the cause of the clinical symptoms of imbalance of some patients with chronic otitis media1553494500United States Department of Health & Human Services; National Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA; NIH National Institute on Deafness & Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD