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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Annals of Otology and Neurotology 2021; 4(01): 019-025
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1735394
Original Article

MRI T2-Weighted Cochlear Intensity as a Predictor of Hearing Loss with Vestibular Schwannoma Patients

Peter Q. Luong
1   Department of Otolaryngology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio, United States
,
Claudia I. Cabrera
2   Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio, United States
,
Nirav Patil
2   Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio, United States
,
Hammad Khan
1   Department of Otolaryngology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio, United States
,
Carlito Lagman
3   Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio, United States
,
Thomas A. Ostergard
3   Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio, United States
,
Gary Huang
2   Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio, United States
,
Nicholas C. Bambikidas
3   Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio, United States
,
Sarah E. Mowry
2   Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio, United States
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Abstract

Objective It is difficult to predict how hearing loss will progress with vestibular schwannomas (VSs) and to determine the optimal time for hearing preservation interventions. This study investigated the relationship between cochlear intensity on T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging and hearing loss in VS patients over time.

Design Retrospective cohort study.

Setting Single major academic center.

Participants Patients with a diagnosis of VS from 2007 to 2018.

Main Outcome Measures Pure tone average (PTA) and cochlear-to-pontine relative signal intensity (RSI) measured at two time points.

Results Fifty patients were included in the final analysis. For both affected and unaffected ears, the trend in PTA increased from baseline to follow-up. For affected ears, the trend in RSI increased from baseline to follow-up, while for the unaffected ears RSI decreased. There was a significant positive correlation between the initial RSI value in the ipsilateral ear when compared with the change in PTA from baseline to follow-up (r = 0.28, p = 0.048).

Conclusion There is a trend between initial RSI and how hearing changes in the affected ears of patients with VS. Additional studies are needed to explore how this relationship may be better used to predict hearing loss.

Keywords

vestibular schwannoma - hearing - MRI - acoustic neuroma


Publication History

Article published online:
14 September 2021

© 2021. Indian Society of Otology. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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