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Updated: Dec 6, 2025
Neuro-rehabilitation Approach for Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Published on: January 25, 2016
Lesion-specific prognosis by magnetic resonance imaging in sudden sensorineural hearing loss
Cheng-Jui Yang1, Tadao Yoshida1, Satofumi Sugimoto1
1Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan.
Background:
High signals in the inner ear of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL) on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have been reported, but no quantitative evaluation has yet been done.
Objectives:
To evaluate hearing outcomes and cochlear signal intensities on 3-T heavily T2-weighted three-dimensional fluid-attenuated inversion recovery magnetic resonance imaging (hT2W-3D-FLAIR) in patients with ISSNHL.
Materials And Methods:
Twenty-nine patients with ISSNHL were included. Patients underwent hT2W-3D-FLAIR with intravenous gadolinium injection and pure tone audiometry (PTA) at initial visits and 3 months later. Signal intensity ratios (SIRs) were measured in the basal or apical-middle turns of the affected cochlea. A statistical analysis of relationships between SIRs and the average hearing levels (HLs) at low (125, 250, and 500 Hz) and high (2, 4, and 8 kHz) tone frequencies was performed.
Results:
Hearing improvements at high-tone frequencies in ears with HLs ≥60 dB were significantly worse in those with high SIRs at the basal turns on pre-contrast images. Similarly, hearing improvements at low-tone frequencies in ears with HLs ≥60 dB were significantly worse in those with high SIRs at the apical-middle turns on post-contrast images.
Conclusions And Significance:
High SIRs on hT2W-3D-FLAIR indicate cochlear disturbances with severe ISSNHL and could provide lesion-specific prognostic information.
