Analysis of cerebral blood perfusion changes in patients with unilateral sudden sensorineural hearing loss based on three-dimensional pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling

Abstract

Objective: To explore the changes of cerebral blood perfusion in patients with unilateral sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) by using the three-dimensional pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (3D pCASL) technique. Methods: The clinical characteristics and ASL data of the 32 patients with unilateral SSNHL were retrospectively collected from November 2020 to June 2021 in Beijing Fuxing Hospital of Capital Medical University, among them, there were 7 males and 25 females, aged from 17 to 73 (44.9±14.4) years. According to the location of SSNHL, they were divided into the left SSNHL (L-SSNHL) group (18 cases) and the right SSNHL (R-SSNHL) group (14 cases). A total of 34 healthy volunteers, which including 14 males and 20 females, aged from 24 to 68 (46.2±14.4) years were enrolled from the local community. The parameter of cerebral blood flow (CBF) of each brain area was obtained using the CereFlow software. The Brainnetome Atlas software package based on MATLAB was used for visualization. The independent-samples t test was conducted to compare the difference of cerebral blood perfusion between the unilateral SSNHL group and healthy control (HC) group. Pearson correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between changes in cerebral blood perfusion and clinical scale scores. Results: The CBF of left orbital gyrus part 5, left inferior temporal gyrus part 7, right orbital gyrus part 5, right inferior temporal gyrus part 1, right inferior temporal gyrus part 7, and right parahippocampal gyrus part 3 of the L-SSNHL group were higher than that in the HC group[(49.1±8.8) vs (31.6±10.9)ml·100g-1·min-1;(42.8±14.3) vs (27.1±13.6)ml·100g-1·min-1;(51.8±9.4) vs (27.2±11.2)ml·100g-1·min-1;(38.8±5.7) vs (28.0±9.2)ml·100g-1·min-1;(38.4±13.8) vs (23.6±10.3)ml·100g-1·min-1;(42.4±9.4) vs (30.1±12.6)ml·100g-1·min-1; all P<0.05]. The CBF of left superior frontal gyrus part 7 and left middle frontal gyrus part 3 of the L-SSNHL group were lower than that in the HC group[(48.2±7.9) vs (59.3±13.7)ml·100g-1·min-1;(46.4±10.3) vs (59.3±16.9)ml·100g-1·min-1;all P<0.05]. The CBF of left orbital gyrus part 5, right orbital gyrus part 5, right inferior temporal gyrus part 1, and right inferior temporal gyrus part 7 of the R-SSNHL group were higher than that in the HC group[(50.6±7.0) vs (31.6±10.9)ml·100g-1·min-1;(50.9±8.8) vs (27.2±11.2)ml·100 g-1·min-1;(38.0±7.2) vs (28.0±9.2)ml·100g-1·min-1;(35.7±8.5) vs (23.6±10.3)ml·100g-1·min-1;all P<0.05]; the CBF of right insular part 4 was lower than that in the HC group [(44.2±6.1) vs (54.4±11.3) ml·100 g-1·min-1, P=0.018]. In the L-SSNHL group, the CBF of left superior frontal gyrus part 7 and right orbital gyrus part 5 were negatively correlated with the VAS score(r=-0.83, -0.81, all P<0.05), and the CBF of right orbital gyrus part 5 was negatively correlated with the THI score(r=-0.75, P=0.013). There was no statistically significant correlation between the remaining differences in brain regions and clinical scale scores(all P>0.05). Conclusion: Changes in cerebral blood perfusion in multiple brain regions were found in patients with unilateral SSNHL by using the 3D pCASL technique.