AUTHOR=Zou Yan , Ma Hui , Liu Bo , Li Dan , Liu Dingxi , Wang Xinrong , Wang Siqi , Fan Wenliang , Han Ping 

TITLE=Disrupted Topological Organization in White Matter Networks in Unilateral Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 15 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2021.666651

DOI=10.3389/fnins.2021.666651

ISSN=1662-453X

ABSTRACT=Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) is a sudden-onset hearing impairment that rapidly develops within 72 hours and is mostly unilateral. Only a few of patients can be identified with a defined cause by the routine clinical examination. Recently, some studies have shown that unilateral SSNHL is associated with the alterations in the central nervous system. However, little is known about the topological organization of white matter (WM) networks in unilateral SSNHL patients in the acute phase. In this study, one hundred and forty-five patients with SSNHL and 91 age-, gender-, and education-matched healthy controls were evaluated using diffusion tensor imaging and graph theoretical approaches. The topological properties of WM networks, including global and nodal parameters, were investigated. At the global level, SSNHL patients displayed decreased clustering coefficient, local efficiency, global efficiency, normalized clustering coefficient, normalized characteristic path length, small-worldness, and increased characteristic path length (p < 0.05) compared with healthy controls. At the nodal level, altered nodal centralities in brain regions involved the auditory network, visual network, attention network, default mode network, sensorimotor network and subcortical network (p < 0.05, Bonferroni corrected). These findings indicate a shift of the WM network topology in SSNHL patients toward randomization, which is characterized by decreased global network integration and segregation and is reflected by decreased global connectivity and altered nodal centralities. This study could help to understand the potential pathophysiology of unilateral SSNHL.