Abstract
• Cochlear membrane ruptures occurred in the left temporal bones of two patients—one was a result of barotrauma caused by flying and was associated with sudden deafness, tinnitus, and some vertigo and the second occurred in a patient with profound deafness in a previously normal-hearing ear. Both occurred as ruptures of Reissner's membrane at the junction of the ductus reuniens with the cecum vestibulare portion of the cochlear duct. With healing, a balloon-like structure formed from the rupture site into the adjacent vestibule, resulting in a secondarily ruptured saccule duct in one case and in collapse of the saccule in the second case. Left-sided preponderance of such ruptures and the vulnerability of the ductus reuniens junction with the cochlea are described. (Arch Otolaryngol 1981;107:598-600)

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