Sinus Tympanum

Sinus tympanum: synopsis

The sinus tympanum is a small space located at the bottom of the middle ear. Normally, it is present only in young children and adults who have undergone mastoidectomy for chronic mastoiditis, and in a number of pathological processes and conditions accompanied by a total or subtotal obstructive process in different parts of the Eustachian tube and middle ear: in acute, purulent or serous otitis media due to perforation of the eardrum; after radical surgery on the middle ear (mastoidotomy, sanitizing surgery in conditions of suppurative lesions of the mastoid process); with tumors localized in this area, sometimes with inflammation of the lymph nodes of the bottom of the 183 cavity and parapharyngeal space [14-18].

The main importance of the sinus tympanum is to maintain the pressure necessary for the existence of the air-bearing ossicles (stapedius, malleus and incus). The sinus of the tympanic cavity is also considered as a drainage route (suction) for the internal cavity of the middle ear and secretions from the nasopharynx. However, this statement cannot be considered the ultimate truth, since fluid does not always accumulate in the cavity, which is considered the sinus of the tympanum. Sometimes it is associated with pseudopseudosinus. Detection of fluid in it is noted in 40% of cases [17].