Imaging appearances of unusual conditions of the middle and inner ear

Requests for imaging of patients complaining of deafness and other symptoms related to the petrous bone are becoming increasingly common. Although much of this work is related to the exclusion of vestibular schwannomas by MRI, high-resolution CT is available in most departments and is necessary for the evaluation of many conditions of the middle ear and bony labyrinth. In this pictorial review, some of the more unusual conditions that may be encountered in the middle and inner ear are presented, which might not be overly familiar to non-otological radiologists, illustrating the roles of CT and MRI.