EABR measurements during cochlear implantation in one-year-old, infant, child, adult, and elderly patients

Abstract

Background

Clinical application of electrically-evoked intracochlear auditory brainstem responses (eABRs) for evaluation of brainstem maturity or aging changes has not been well investigated.

Aim/objective

We compare the eV latencies of intraoperative eABR measurements in one-year-olds, infants, children, adults, and the elderly, with the goal of investigating the changes in the brainstem auditory pathway due to development and aging.

Materials and methods

We studied 58 ears of 51 patients who underwent cochlear implantation between 2013 and 2019 using MED-EL’s Concerto or Synchrony implants with Flex28 or Flex soft electrodes. EABRs were recorded during cochlear implantation. The stimuli were delivered by the MED-EL Maestro to the apical, middle, and basal turn electrodes at stimulus levels 1000, 800, and 600 cu, with a pulse width of 30 µs.

Results

In eABRs recorded from electrodes installed at both the mastoid and nape, there was no difference in latency between age groups within each stimulus level.

Conclusion and significance

ABR latency was not affected by development after age one and aging of the brainstem auditory pathway. Our study will be useful as a control in identifying abnormal eABR wave configurations in patients with cochlear malformations, cochlear nerve deficiencies, or auditory neuropathy, regardless of age.

Chinese abstract

背景：电发耳蜗内听觉脑干反应（eABRs）用于评估脑干成熟或衰老的临床应用尚未得到很好的研究。

目的：我们比较婴儿、一岁幼儿、儿童、成人和老人的术中eABR测量的eV潜伏期, 目的是研究由于发育和衰老导致的脑干听觉通路的变化。

材料和方法：我们研究了在2013年至2019年期间51位接受耳蜗植入的患者的58只耳朵, 使用了带有Flex28或Flex软电极的MED-EL的Concerto或Synchrony植入物。在人工耳蜗植入过程中记录了eABR。刺激由MED-EL Maestro传递到顶端、中部和基底的转弯电极, 刺激水平分别为1000、800和600 cu, 脉冲宽度为30毫秒。

结果：在安装于乳突和颈背上的电极记录的eABR中, 每个刺激水平上各年龄组之间的潜伏期没有差异。

结论和意义：我们的研究表明, eABR潜伏期不受一岁后的发育和脑干听觉通路老化的影响。我们的研究将有助于确定患有耳蜗畸形、耳蜗神经缺陷或听神经病的患者的异常eABR波配置, 无论他们的年龄有多大。

Keywords:

• eABRs
• cochlear implantation
• eV latencies

Acknowlegement

The authors thank Dr. H. Takegoshi and Prof. K. Ogawa for their scientific advice.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.