Vanderbilt Uses Post-Op CT Scans to Guide Cochlear Implant Programming
Vanderbilt University Medical Center has developed a method that uses post-operative CT scans and image processing to determine the physical relationship between cochlear implant electrodes and the neural interface, allowing sub-optimally positioned electrodes to be switched off for a customized map. Cochlear implants are surgically implanted devices that restore hearing by electrically stimulating the auditory nerve, and their programming has traditionally ignored where the electrodes actually sit. The trial tested whether this individualized image-guided programming improves hearing and speech outcomes in pediatric recipients, with hearing measures collected at baseline, 12 months and 24 months; it has been completed, but results have not been posted.
Why it matters
Cochlear implants are in routine clinical use and are still programmed without reference to where the electrodes ended up; if image-guided fitting proves out in children, the same anatomy-aware argument applies to every implanted electrode array that came after them.