MRI-generated stimulation of the labyrinth after CI fitting. A rare complication?

More than 430 million people worldwide suffer from disabling hearing loss. This accounts for more than 5% of the world's population. According to WHO estimates, this number will rise to 700 million people by 2050.1 Fitting a cochlear implant is the treatment of choice for severe hearing loss. Newer cochlear implant systems enable MRI examinations, which produce strong magnetic fields, to be carried out with virtually no complications. To evaluate the effects of magnetic fields on the human cochlea, we sent a questionnaire to patients who received a cochlear implant in our clinic. Of 480 patients contacted, 95 patients responded. 62 patients reported having received an MRI. Twenty-two patients (35%) recalled hearing something on the implanted side during the MRI scan, whereas 40 (65%) did not hear anything. The auditory sensations ranged from humming (6), hissing (8) and a low tones (1) to high tones or beeping (7). Eight patients reported hearing something for the entire duration of the MRI, while others (12) only heard something for a short time. In 12 patients the sound disappeared after examination. Unfortunately, 5 patients who heard something did not answer this last question. In addition, ten patients reported dizziness, with the dizziness being continuous in three patients and lasting a few seconds or minutes in seven patients. MRI-generated stimulation of the labyrinth in CI users is not an uncommon effect of radiological examination. Animal experimental approaches pursue a therapeutic benefit of this effect (Lee et al., 2022)