[Consequences of a high-placed jugular bulb for the inferior ventilation pathway of the middle ear].

The evaluation and the correlation between the healthy and inflamed system of the mucosal folds of the middle ear demonstrate that there is a second "bottle neck" of the aeration pathways (the first being the Eustachian tube) in the region of the tympanic diaphragm with the tympanic isthmi - anterior and posterior -, the latter is more important for the ventilation of the epitympanum and antrum. Anatomical variations in this lower air-pathway as a high placed jugular bulb into the middle ear cavity endanger of course the undisturbed ventilation of the epitympanum and antrum in case of the infected and swollen mucosa and its folds.