Purpose of the work: Increasing the efficiency of surgical treatment of patients with destructive pathology of the temporal bones through intraoperative use of an electromagnetic navigation system. The article showed the results of using the electromagnetic navigation system for surgical treatment of patients with temporal bone paraganglioma types B and C, facial neuromas and chronic otitis media with an unfavourable form in which radical mastoidectomy was previously performed. The features of preoperative preparation for surgical treatment of patients, surgical approaches (retrofacial, infratemporal, transcochlear) are described. For retrofacial access, the reference points were: a horizontal semicircular canal, the bone wall of the internal carotid artery and the jugular vein bulb. For infratemporal access, the reference points were the wall of the carotid artery, the jugular vein bulb and the internal auditory meatus. For transcochlear access, the carotid artery wall, jugular fossa and internal auditory meatus are considered landmarks. The use of the navigation system made it possible to navigate the complex anatomy during the operation and avoid injury to vital structures (internal carotid artery canal, jugular vein bulb, semicircular canals, facial nerve). The need to use navigation systems especially increases with anomalies in the development of the ear and when the boundaries between anatomical structures are destroyed by an inflammatory process or a neoplasm.
Surgical and embryological perspective of a big loop of internal carotid artery extending laterally beyond internal jugular vein