Growth pattern of temporal bone pneumatization: a computed tomography study with consecutive age groups

To investigate the growth pattern of temporal bone pneumatization (TBP) in consecutive age groups from birth to 18 years old using 3D air-density reconstruction of high-resolution CT (HRCT).

A total of 570 patients under 18 years old who performed temporal bone HRCT and with no structural abnormalities on both sides were included. Nineteen groups were created to represent consecutive ages, with 15 males and 15 females in each group. Volume rendering of air density was performed using a segmentation threshold of − 200 HU to obtain TBP volume of each side. The differences in TBP between the sides, sexes, and ages were statistically analyzed.

The mean volume of TBP was measured as 1.17 ± 0.44 ml in patients less than 1 year old and 6.81 ± 1.93 ml as adult size. High consistencies of TBP volume between different sides or sexes were found in most of age groups. Significant differences were shown between sides only in 9- and 11-year-old female groups (p₉ = 0.031, p₁₁ = 0.016) while between sexes only in 6- and 16-year-old groups (p₆ = 0.001, p₁₆ = 0.043), although the volume was larger in all the male groups older than 6 years. The curve drawn by the mean volume in consecutive age groups showed that TBP continued to grow linearly in both males and females until they reached 14 years old. The corresponding linear regression equations were as follows: y_m = 1.553 + 0.370x, (x ≤ 14 years, R² = 0.596); y_f = 1.561 + 0.304x, (x ≤ 14 years, R² = 0.565).

The TBP volume shows a linear growth pattern from birth until reaching adult size after 14 years old.