Trauma and perhaps disease can likely be excluded congenital or epigenetic variation is more of a probable cause. Enters 2 inches superior to external auditory meatus and centered to image receptor 2. The external acoustic meatus is a bony canal for the ear canal, a tube running from the outer ear to the middle ear. The first branchial pouch forms the eustachian tube and tympanic cavity. Possible explanations for the presence of this anomaly are explored. These parts give rise to squamous, petro-mastoid and tympanic portions in adult skulls. Based on observations during ongoing research by the second author, this specimen was seen to exhibit a twinned right external auditory meatus. Such is the case in a cranium recovered from the archaeological site of Carthage in Tunisia. slight in expression, other anomalies are quite striking in appearance. Froment, A.Ĭranial anomalies vary in degree of expression. EXTERNAL AUDITORY CANAL IN SKULL BASE SURGERY The last 15 to 20 years have seen an increasing number of operative procedures described for the removal of lesions involving the skull base. Like I need a hole in the head: supernumerary external auditory meatus in a Carthaginian cranium Like I need a hole in the head: supernumerary external auditory meatus in a Carthaginian cranium

External auditory meatus skull