[Light and electron microscopic study of the vestibular nerve and Scarpa's ganglion in Ménière's disease]

Abstract

Degenerative changes in both the nervus vestibularis and in Scarpa's ganglion depending on the duration of Meniére's disease are visualized by light and electron microscopy. The specimens were obtained by transtemporal neurectomy in patients with Meniére's disease and were fixed quickly. On the thick nerve fibres (pars superior) a splintering of the myelin lamellae, an increase in the nerve fibre diameter and the formation of myelin globes were found. On the thin nerve fibres (pars inferior) protrusion and introversion of whole parts of the myelin sheath had been observed. In the later stages of the disease, losses of axons and decay of myelin sheath were evident. In Scarpa's ganglion, different stages of ganglion cell degeneration were found. The degenerative morphological changes in the nerve and ganglion were more obvious in later stages of the disease.