Jugular bulb diverticula: clinical and radiologic aspects.

Abstract

This study was performed to determine the clinical presentation of jugular diverticulum and its relevance with the extension of the lesion. The records and high-resolution CT scans of 1474 patients, with otologic symptoms or related clinical findings, were evaluated retrospectively. In 17 cases in which CT scans revealed the presence of jugular diverticulum, sensorineural symptoms were evaluated with respect to a reference line, perpendicular to the basal turn of the cochlea and tangent to the vestibule in axial CT scan images. When the extension of jugular diverticulum was posterior to the reference line, sensorineural symptoms with vertigo were dominant in most patients (72.7%) in this group. On the other hand, for the patients with anterior-extending jugular diverticulum, sensorineural symptoms without vertigo were detected in 50% of patients, whereas 33.3% had sensorineural symptoms with vertigo. This study revealed a relationship between the extension of jugular diverticulum and clinical symptoms. However, this relationship lacks statistical evidence because of the limited number of patients.