Trefilov A., Kuklina K.
City Children's Hospital № 3, Cheboksary, Russia

Introduction . The problem of pediatric sensorineural hearing loss remains relevant to the present day. There are two different types of hearing impairments, conductive hearing impairment and sensorineural hearing impairment. A third type is a combination of the two called mixed hearing loss. Hearing impairments are categorized by their type – conductive, sensorineural or both, by their severity, and by the age of onset. Furthermore, a hearing impairment may exist in only one ear (unilateral) or in both ears (bilateral).

Purpose. To determine changes in blood flow in children with hearing loss in Doppler vascular head and neck.

Materials and Methods. Performed transcranial (anterior, middle and posterior cerebral and basilar arteries) and brachiocephalic (common, external and internal carotid and vertebral arteries) dopplerography in 12 patients (the average age is 13 years old) with various types of hearing loss: sensorineural – 7 (1 moderate, 1 moderately severe, 5 severe), conductive – 4, mixed – 1. Ultrasound examination was made according to standard procedure on the machine expert class “Toshiba Xario” (Japan) with a set of multifrequency transducers.

Results. One child had a tortuosity of the internal carotid and one – vertebral arteries. 8 children had increased peripheral vascular resistance in the anterior cerebral artery, 2 – middle cerebral. One patient showed reduction in peripheral resistance in the all intracranial arteries. In three cases, marked asymmetry of blood flow velocities in all intracranial arteries, and in three – only on the anterior cerebral. In two children the asymmetry of blood flow was registered in all extracranial vessels, one for internal carotid and in one case of vertebral arteries

Conclusions. According to Doppler ultrasound, patients with hearing loss has a rich picture of changes in cerebral blood flow.