Functional MRI during electrical auditory stimulation as an objective evaluation of the retrocochlear auditory pathway in profoundly deaf patients

电岬刺激试验可用于人工耳蜗植入者耳蜗后听觉通路的术前功能评估。然而，由于缺乏一个客观的信息皮质整合，这个测试的结果似乎并不能预测在何种程度上的人工耳蜗植入会successful.In为了采用功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）来评估皮层激活电听觉刺激，安全的刺激设备，允许使用内的磁共振系统的高斯场。我们对4例成年耳聋患者在人工耳蜗植入前使用这些电刺激装置进行了功能磁共振成像。所有4例患者均显示听觉皮层激活，人工耳蜗植入术后表现良好。在一例线粒体疾病患者中证实的皮层激活也有助于鼓励患者和外科医生进行人工耳蜗植入，因此该方法可以提供耳蜗后听觉通路完整性的客观测试，并帮助外科医生在人工耳蜗植入前做出决策。

Electrical promontory stimulation test has been used for preoperative functional evaluation of the retrocochlear auditory pathway in cochlear implant candidates. However, due to the lack of an objective information on cortical integration, results of this test do not seem to predict what extent the cochlear implant will be successful.In order to employ functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to assess the cortical activation during electrical auditory stimulation, safe stimulation devices allowing to use inside the gauss field of an MR system was developed. We performed fMRI by using these electrical stimulation devices in 4 deaf adult patients before cochlear implantation. All 4 patients showed activation of the auditory cortex and good postoperative performance with a cochlear implant. Demonstration of the cortical activation in one patient with mitochondrial diseases also helped to encourage both patients and surgeons for cochlear implantation.This method can thus provide an objective test of the integrity of the retrocochlear auditory pathway and help the surgeon in decision making before cochlear implantation.