Signal intensity assessment of the facial nerve
Multi-planner reconstruction (MPR) and maximum intensity projection (MIP) images were obtained using RadiAnt DICOM Viewer (Medixant, Poznan, Poland). For five affected ears, anatomical segments of the facial nerve were identified on MPR images, and the signal intensity of each segment was assigned a value by the first author as follows: 0, no signal; 1, faint visualisation; 2, signal equivalent to normal cerebellum; 3, signal equivalent to enhancing dural sinus.6Furthermore, we compared the signal intensity of the mastoid segment between before and after remission induction in three affected ears. Four otolaryngologists, two rheumatologists, and one radiologist were blinded to the clinical information and scored each individual case independently in a single session. For comparison, Case 4 was excluded due to being under treatment.