Establishment of inner ear malformation screening method using MFT

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K18288
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 56050:Otorhinolaryngology-related
• Research Institution: University of Miyazaki
• Principal Investigator: Nakamura TAkeshi 宮崎大学, 医学部, 助教 (50750931)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: MFT / 内耳奇形 / スクリーニング

Outline of Final Research Achievements

A comparison was performed between the two groups using 55 ears in 29 cases that diagnosed with vestibular aqueduct enlargement (EVA) and 91 ears in 63 cases with normal hearing as control cases. Comparison the absorbance(ABS), the ABS of EVA was significantly higher at 226-840.9 Hz and significantly lower at 1887.75-427.85 Hz than that of the control group. The resonance frequency(RF) of EVA was significantly lower than that of the control group. When combined with 500Hz and 3668.02 ABS and RF, it had a diagnostic ability of EVA with a positive predictive value of 100%.
From the above, WBT was considered to be useful for the diagnosis of EVA.

Free Research Field

耳鼻咽喉科

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

内耳奇形は、CTやMRIの画像検査により診断可能であるが、放射線被爆や検査にかかる時間や手間（乳幼児の場合には、画像評価のための鎮静を要する場合もある）、費用などの点から、必ずしも容易な検査とは言えない。一方で、wideband tympanometry（以下WBT）は数分で両耳の測定が可能であるため、乳幼児に対して実施する場合も鎮静の必要が無く、非侵襲的な検査である。本研究によりWBTは内耳奇形である前庭水管拡大症の診断に有用であることが示された。