Altered cerebellar functional connectivity and topography in patients with unilateral sudden sensorineural hearing...

Evidence has demonstrated a close relationship between the cerebellum and auditory processing. However, altered patterns of cerebellar-brain connectivity and changes in the topological properties of the cerebellar network in patients with unilateral Sudden sensorineural hearing loss(SSNHL) remain to be elucidated. The present study collected blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) data from 63 patients suffering from unilateral SSNHL and 32 healthy subjects in order to perform functional connectivity (FC) and brain network analyses. The FC analysis was conducted using two distinct methodologies: voxel-wise analysis, based on the cerebellar network template, and ROI-wise analysis, based on the structural template. Concurrently, the analysis of cerebellar network properties was facilitated by graph theory.The results of the FC analysis demonstrated that multiple cerebellar functional and structural subdivisions of patients in both the left and right groups exhibited abnormal functional connectivity with multiple voxel clusters and brain regions. These abnormalities were predominantly located within the default and dorsal attention networks. Moreover, a comprehensive enquiry into the properties of the cerebellar network in the case group disclosed the existence of abnormalities, encompassing global attributes such as synchronisation, as well as nodal attributes, including degree centrality (Di), nodal efficiency (Ei), nodal clustering coefficient (Ci) and local efficiency (Eloc). A substantial negative correlation was subsequently ascertained between the nodal attributes Cp and Eloc in the cerebellar vermis 8 brain region and pure-tone audiometry (PTA). Choosing the cerebellum as a target to study the whole brain network may provide new perspectives for the investigation of the pathogenesis of SSNHL.