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HFUS Imaging of the Cochlea: A Feasibility Study for Anatomical Identification by Registration with MicroCT

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Abstract

Cochlear implantation consists in electrically stimulating the auditory nerve by inserting an electrode array inside the cochlea, a bony structure of the inner ear. In the absence of any visual feedback, the insertion results in many cases of damages of the internal structures. This paper presents a feasibility study on intraoperative imaging and identification of cochlear structures with high-frequency ultrasound (HFUS). 6 ex-vivo guinea pig cochleae were subjected to both US and microcomputed tomography (µCT) we respectively referred as intraoperative and preoperative modalities. For each sample, registration based on simulating US from the scanner was performed to allow a precise matching between the visible structures. According to two otologists, the procedure led to a target registration error of 0.32 mm ± 0.05. Thanks to referring to a better preoperative anatomical representation, we were able to intraoperatively identify the modiolus, both scalae vestibuli and tympani and deduce the location of the basilar membrane, all of which is of great interest for cochlear implantation. Our main objective is to extend this procedure to the human case and thus provide a new tool for inner ear surgery.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the French “Fondation pour l’Audition” and by the French National Agency for Research (Agence Nationale pour la Recherche, ANR) within the Investissements d’Avenir Program (Labex CAMI, ANR-11-LABX0004, the Equipex ROBOTEX, ANR-10-EQPX-44-01). We thank Dr Renaud Lebrun (Montpellier Rio Imaging platform and LabEx CeMEB - Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution - Université de Montpellier - CNRS UMR 5554- Campus Triolet Place Eugène Bataillon 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5) for his contribution in the µCT acquisitions and Dr Pierre Sicard (IPAM platform - CHU Arnaud De Villeneuve - UMR INSERM 1046 - CNRS 9214 - 371 Avenue du Doyen Gaston Giraud 34295 Montpellier Cedex) for his contribution in the HFUS acquisitions.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LIRMM, University of Montpellier, CNRS, Montpellier, France

    Lucas Lavenir, Nabil Zemiti, Gérard Subsol & Philippe Poignet

  2. Department of ENT and Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospital Gui de Chauliac, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France

    Mohamed Akkari & Frédéric Venail

  3. Institute for Neurosciences of Montpellier, INSERM U105, Montpellier, France

    Frédéric Venail

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  1. Lucas Lavenir
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  2. Nabil Zemiti
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Correspondence to Nabil Zemiti.

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Associate Editor Ka-Wai Kwok oversaw the review of this article.

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Lavenir, L., Zemiti, N., Akkari, M. et al. HFUS Imaging of the Cochlea: A Feasibility Study for Anatomical Identification by Registration with MicroCT. Ann Biomed Eng 49, 1308–1317 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-020-02671-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-020-02671-1

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