The modern view of the radiodiagnostic methods applied for determining the position of the electrode array in cochlear implantation surgery

Abstract

The objective of the present work was to overview the currently available literature publications dealing with the radiodiagnostic techniques applied to evaluate the position of the electrode array used for the purpose of cochlear implantation surgery including both the conventional methods and the recently proposed approaches. It is shown that the intraoperative control guarantees the timely identification of the possible complications and should meet both the safety criteria and the requirements for obtaining high-quality images and intraoperative usability of the surgical instruments being employed. Moreover, the intraoperative monitoring can be exercised under control of fluoroscopy as well as with the use of the portable computed radiography scanners and navigation systems. The postoperative monitoring is carried out with the use of transorbital X ray visualization, multi-slice computed tomography, cone beam computed tomography, and digital tomosynthesis. Each of the listed methods has specific advantages and disadvantages, but there is yet neither a universally recognized systematic approach to the assessment of their effectiveness nor the generally acceptable criteria for the evaluation of the image quality.