[Study of cone-beam CT in evaluating the electrode array of cochlear implantation postoperatively]

Objective:To explore ways of evaluating morphological information of cochlea electrode in post cochlear implantation patients, and so as to make sure its value of clinical usage.Method:A series of 52 patients who were diagnosed as severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss and received cochlear implantation were admitted. All the patients had cone-beam CT scanning of the operated side 1 or 2 days after operation. The software of NNT Viewer was used to proceed original DICOM data of CBCT scanning in order to evaluate the morphological information. A comparative study in recognizing the numbers of anatomic structures was carried out between CBCT and X-ray.Result:All the 52 patients successfully received cochlear implantation as well as CBCT scanning.The cochlear implantation was implanted bilaterally at the same time in 3 patients, left side implantation in 13 patients and 36 cases in right side. There are four ways of evaluating the morphological information of electrode in cochlea post-operatively, including mode of Panorex, mode of MPR, mode of 3D-Ceph and 3D-Bone. A comprehensive evaluation can be achieved by the using of these four methods. The numbers of anatomic structures distinguished by CBCT is far more than X-ray.Conclusion:The evaluating methods of CBCT scanning is flexible and diverse, the CBCT scanning have unique values in clinical usage.