Frequency of Inner Ear Anomalies Among Cochlear Implant Candidates: A Case Study in the Northwest of Iran

ABSTRACT

@#Introduction: Globally hearing impairment occurs in about 1 to 2 per 1000 live births. The etiology of severe sensorineural hearing loos (SNHL) is complex and multifactorial. Congenital inner ear abnormality is a major cause of hearing loss in children and cochlear implantation (CI) is a proper treatment in these children. Preoperative CT scan of the temporal bones are used to evaluate inner ear malformations in CI candidates. The frequency of internal ear malformations reported on temporal scan could varied from 20% to 30%. The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of inner ear malformations in CT scan of cochlear implant candidates . Methods: In a retrospective cross-sectional descriptive study, 201 infants (105 boys and 96 girls ) with the mean age of 20.5 ± 14.01 month with severe SNHL who are CI candidates were examined by temporal bone imaging with multi-slice CT from March 2014 to March 2015 in CI center of Tabriz University. Results: CT revealed abnormalities of the inner ear in 26 (13%) of infants that most of them with 10 (38.5%) was enlarged vestibular aqueduct (EVA). Also, 31 infants (15.4%) had abnormalities in outer, middle ear or in mastoid aeration. Conclusion: Temporal bone imaging with CT is an essential method and could be suggested as a proper first step for evaluating inner ear malformations in CI candidates.