ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Applied Neuroimaging
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1647804
Dehydration-Associated Cerebral Hypoperfusion in Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss: An Arterial Spin Labelling-based preliminary study
Provisionally accepted
Palpasa Shrestha1
Zhi Wen1
Anyuan Zheng1Xilin Yang1Hua Liao1
Mohamed Muntasir Ramjaun1Cixing You1Jati Shrestha2Renjie Yang1
Jun Chen1*- 1Wuhan University Renmin Hospital, Wuhan, China
- 2National Trauma Center, Kathmandu, Nepal
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Objective: Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) rapidly decreases hearing, often by more than 30 decibels within three days. While circulatory issues are suspected causes, the exact reason remains unclear. This study employs Arterial Spin Labelling to examine changes in cerebral blood flow and its relationship with hydration levels in SSNHL. Methods: A prospective study examined patients with SSNHL, dividing them into 22 right-sided SSNHL (RSSNHL), 20 left-sided SSNHL (LSSNHL), and 20 healthy controls (HC). Cerebral blood flow (CBF) data were obtained using MATLAB. Statistical analysis included one-way ANOVA with post hoc analysis among LSSNHL, RSSNHL, HC, and Pearson correlation to explore the relationship with clinical variables. Results: Compared to HC, patients with RSSNHL showed reduced CBF value in right medial superior frontal gyrus, Heschl's gyrus (HG), and left inferior temporal gyrus, conversely increased perfusion in left calcarine. In LSSNHL patients, CBF value was decreased in the left superior temporal gyrus (STG) and right middle temporal gyrus, with increased perfusion in the left temporal pole STG compared to HC (cluster level P<0.05 after FDR correction). Furthermore, CBF in the right HG of RSSNHL and left STG of LSSNHL negatively correlated with blood viscosity (r=-0.621, P=0.003; r=-0.560, P=0.007) and urine specific gravity(r=-0.483, P=0.031; r=-0.485, P=0.022), and positively correlated with daily water intake (r=0.650, P=0.002; r=0.568, P=0.006). Conclusion: Cerebral perfusion changes were present in the temporal, frontal, and 2 occipital lobes of SSNHL patients. Furthermore, insufficient water intake may be a potential cause of SSNHL. Drinking adequate water is vital in preventing and recovering from this condition.
Keywords: Arterial spin labelling, Blood Viscosity, cerebral blood flow, Dehydration, Sudden sensorineural hearing loss
Received: 16 Jun 2025; Accepted: 18 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Shrestha, Wen, Zheng, Yang, Liao, Ramjaun, You, Shrestha, Yang and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jun Chen, Wuhan University Renmin Hospital, Wuhan, China
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