| Bony labyrinth | |
|---|---|
 Lateral view of right osseous labyrinth | |
 Interior view of right osseous labyrinth | |
| Details | |
| Identifiers | |
| Latin | labyrinthus osseus |
| TA2 | 692 |
| FMA | 60179 |
| Anatomical terminology | |
Thebony labyrinth (alsoosseous labyrinth orotic capsule) is the rigid, bony outer wall of theinner ear in thetemporal bone. It consists of three parts: thevestibule,semicircular canals, andcochlea. These are cavities hollowed out of the substance of thebone, and lined byperiosteum. They contain a clear fluid, theperilymph, in which themembranous labyrinth is situated.
Afracture classification system in which temporal bone fractures detected bycomputed tomography are delineated based on disruption of the otic capsule has been found to be predictive for complications of temporal bone trauma such asfacial nerve injury,sensorineuraldeafness andcerebrospinal fluidotorrhea. On radiographic images, the otic capsule is the densest portion of the temporal bone.[1][2]
Inotospongiosis, a leading cause of adult-onsethearing loss, the otic capsule is exclusively affected. This area normally undergoes no remodeling in adult life and is extremely dense. With otospongiosis, the normally denseenchondral bone is replaced by Haversian bone, a spongy and vascular matrix that results insensorineural hearing loss due to compromise of the conductive capacity of the inner earossicles. This results inhypodensity on CT, with the portion first affected usually being thefissula ante fenestram.[3]
The bony labyrinth is studied inpaleoanthropology as it is a good indicator for distinguishingNeanderthals and modern humans.[4][5][6][7]
This article incorporates text in thepublic domain frompage 1047 of the 20th edition ofGray's Anatomy(1918)
