Short official Latin term

Libelle of note

The promontorium gives rise to several bony ridges: (a) the ponticulus promontorii; (b) the subiculum promontorii; and (c) the finiculus.

In the retrotympanum, lateral and medial spaces relative to the facial nerve and pyramidal eminences were defined: lateral, the sinus facialis and the sinus tympanicus lateralis; medial, the sinus tympanicus posterior and the sinus tympanicus.

The paries mastoideus shows three bony eminences, each giving rise to a ridge: (a) the eminentia pyramidalis; (b) the eminentia chordae tympani; and (c) the eminentia styloidea.

See note # 7175

New term; the Corpus adiposum tubae auditivae (of Ostmann) is a triangular fat pad mediocaudal to the Tuba auditiva and laterocranial to the Musculus tensor veli palatini. It is thought to be important in normal closure of the tube, preventing transmission of nasopharyngeal pressure in the middle ear cavity.

The clinical term cog refers to a coronally oriented osseous ridge protruding in the middle ear cavity, for which the term processus inferior tegminis was introduced (Lang J 1992 Klinische Anatomie des Ohres. Springer, Wien – New York).

For the paries auris mediae, several new terms have been added giving credit to clinical findings (from Mansour S. Magnan J, Ahmad Hh, Nicolas K, Louryan S 2019 Comprehensive and Clinical Anatomy of the Middle Ear, 2nd ed. Springer, Cham).

New term; the Ponticulus promontorii is a thin bony bridge from the Eminentia pyramidalis to the Promontorium (from Lang J 1992 Klinische Anatomie des Ohres. Springer, Wien - New York).

The chorda tympani passes from the facial canal through the posterior tympanic canaliculus to enter the tympanic cavity via the apertura tympanica canaliculi chordae tympani posterioris; via the apertura tympanica canaliculi chordae tympani anterioris, the chorda tympani enters the anterior tympanic canaliculus (see also TA98, A02.1.06.011 canaliculus chordae tympani)

The Processus spatuliformis is a circular (spatulate) process at the end of the Handle, with a ligamentous attachment to the Pars tensa at this point.

The diaphragma epitympanicum (epitympanic diaphragm) separates the epitympanum from the mesotympanum. The diaphragm is formed by the lateral incudomallear and mallear folds laterally, and the tensor tympani fold anteriorly. The epitympanum and the mesotympanum communicate through two openings in the diaphragm, known as the isthmus anterior and isthmus posterior.

The corpus adiposum tubae auditivae (of Ostmann) is a triangular fat pad mediocaudal to the tuba auditiva and laterocranial to the musculus tensor veli palatini. It is thought to be important in normal closure of the tube, preventing transmission of nasopharyngeal pressure in the middle ear cavity.

See note # 8208

The clinical term retrotympanum has been added for the posterior part of the mesotympanum.

The promontorium shows a bony overhang over the cochlear or round window, comprising a postis anterior (anterior pillar), a roof (tegmen) and a postis posterior (posterior pillar) as described by Bolobas B (1972 A hallószery mikrochirurgial anatomija. Könykiadó, Budapest (in Hungarian); Proctor B, Bolobas B, Niparko JK 1986 Anatomy of the round window niche. Acta Otol Rhinol Laryngol 95:444-446). For the tegmen, the term canonus fossulae fenestrae cochleae has been suggested as it forms a canopy overhanging the cochlear window (Topsakal V, Matulic M, Assadi MZ, Mertens G, Van Rompaey V, Van de Heyning P 2020 Comparison of the surgical techniques and robotic techniques for cochlear implantation in terms of the trajectories toward the inner ear. J Int Adv Otol 16:3-7).

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See note # 7175

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