[Voxel-based morphometry study of the brain structures in patients with congenital hereditary hearing loss]

Objective: To analyze the physiological basics for changes of cerebral functions in patients with congenital hereditary hearing loss (CHHL), by using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Methods: From June 2016 to June 2017, we recruited volunteers from Yangzhou Special Education School and CHHL patients from the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Subei People's Hospital as a case group with a total of 14 cases (8 males and 6 females), with an average age from 10 to 18 (13.13 ± 0.39). At the same time,patients with no ear diseases were recruited as a control group, a total of 23 cases (10 males and 13 females), with an average age from 10 to18 (13.50 ± 0.49). Brain scanning with resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed on all subjects, and 3D T1WI was collected and processed by the analyzing software. Two sample t-tests were conducted with alphasim correction at the threshold level of P<0.001. Different morphologies of cerebral cortex were identified between patients with CHHL and their normal controls retrospectively. Results: Compared to their normal controls, patients with CHHL had no significant difference in terms of brain volume, gray matter volume, white matter volume, and cerebrospinal fluid volume ((1 397.53±103.98)cm(3) vs. (1 439.45±128.84)cm(3), (765.19±60.27)cm(3) vs. (800.139±77.64)cm(3), (392.89±40.38)cm(3) vs. (414.54±49.22)cm(3), (314.17±25.81)cm(3) vs. (296.47±51.42)cm(3), all P>0.05). However, compared to their normal controls, patients with CHHL had significantly increased (P<0.001) gray matter in the following cerebral gyri: right temporal pole: middle temporal gyrus, right inferior temporal gyrus, left middle occipital gyrus, right inferior parietal gyrus, and left middle frontal gyrus, left superior occipital gyrus, right superior frontal gyrus, and left superior frontal gyrus. Furthermore, compared to their normal controls, patients with CHHL had significantly decreased (P<0.001) gray matter in the following cerebral gyri: left parahippocampal gyrus, right fusiform gyrus, right middle frontal gyrus, left inferior temporal gyrus, right middle occipital gyrus, left insula, right inferior frontal gyrus, left precentral gyrus, and right superior parietal gyrus. Conclusions: Patients with CHHL show global changes in cerebral cortex not limited to auditory associated cerebral areas. This suggests that adaptable reshaping of global brain structures and functions has occurred in patients with CHHL.