Diagnostic value of 3D-FLAIR MRI in children with sudden deafness caused by inner ear hemorrhage

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the diagnostic value of three-dimensional fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (3D-FLAIR) MRI in children with sudden deafness caused by inner ear hemorrhage. METHODS: The diagnostic efficacies of three different MRI sequences in the examination of the inner ear for 32 children with sudden deafness were compared. Hearing examination results and 3-month follow-up outcomes were analyzed. RESULTS: The age of 32 children with sudden deafness ranged from 5 to 18 years. MRI was performed from 1 to 18 days after onset. Six cases of sudden deafness caused by inner ear hemorrhage were finally diagnosed clinically. For different MRI sequences, the 3D-FLAIR sequence detected five positive cases; the conventional T1-weighted image sequence also detected five positive cases; but the conventional T2-weighted image sequence only detected three positive cases. The sensitivity and specificity of the 3D-FLAIR sequence in the diagnosis of inner ear hemorrhage were 83.3% (5/6) and 96.2% (25/26), respectively, and the area under the curve value of the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.897. In the hemorrhage group, all six cases had extremely severe sensorineural hearing loss, and the hearing recovery was ineffective after 3 months of follow-up. The degree of hearing impairment, 3-month short-term treatment efficacy, and 3D-FLAIR MRI in the diagnosis of inner ear hemorrhage between hemorrhage group and non-hemorrhage group were statistically significant (p=0.043, p=0.000, p=0.000). CONCLUSIONS: 3D-FLAIR MRI is helpful for the diagnosis of inner ear hemorrhage in children with sudden deafness. Besides, short-term treatment indicates poor effects on children with severe hearing impairment.