Quantitative assessment of cochlear and vestibular ganglion neurons in temporal bones with chronic otitis media.

PURPOSE In this study, we aimed to determine whether or not COM leads to loss of spiral and Scarpa ganglion neurons. METHODS From the human temporal bone (HTB) collection at the University of Minnesota we selected human temporal bones with COM, defined as the presence of clinically intractable tissue abnormalities in the middle ear (cholesteatoma, perforation of the eardrum, granulation tissue, fibrosis, tympanosclerosis, and cholesterol granuloma). We also selected HTBs from donors with no ear diseases as controls. We quantitatively analyzed the number of spiral and Scarpa ganglion cells and compared the results obtained in the control and study groups. RESULTS In both COM and control groups we observed a significant negative correlation between age and number of both spiral (R = -0.632; P   0.05). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Our results did not demonstrate significant loss of cochlear or vestibular peripheral ganglion neuron loss in HTBs with COM as compared with controls.