Correlation between unilateral sensorineural hearing loss and the presence of vascular loops of the anterior inferior cerebellar artery observed on temporal bone magnetic resonance imaging – a retrospective study Thesis by Martina Iavarone. Advisor: Paulo Roberto Lazarini

The present study evaluated, through a retrospective analysis, the correlation between unilateral hearing loss and the presence of vascular loops of the inferior anterior cerebellar artery (AICA) observed in temporal bones magnetic resonance. A retrospective analysis of the audiometries was performed at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology of the Hospital Santa Casa de Misericórdia of São Paulo from January 2018 to the end of April 2019, in a total of 2,724 audiometries. From this total, only the audiometry of patients with unilateral sensorineural hearing loss were selected. From these audiometries, the existing records within the institution were evaluated. The audiometry evaluated the frequency from 250 Hz to 8 thousand Hz. In magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the presence of the vascular loop or other vascular alterations at the cerebellopontine angle was evaluated. For statistical analysis, the age variable was performed by ANOVA. The chi-square test (χ2 test) was applied to analyze qualitative variables and to test the association of MR findings and loss laterality. Of the total of 208 patients with unilateral sensorineural hearing loss, 132 patients (63.4%) had idiopathic hearing loss and 76 patients (36.6%) had a defined etiology. The most frequent etiologies found were: middle ear diseases (31.6%), acoustic or mechanical trauma of the temporal bone (23.7%), cerebellopontine angle tumors (13.2%) and vestibular diseases (11.8% ). Of 47 patients with idiopathic hearing loss who underwent MRI at the institution, 8 had AICA vascular loop on MRI. Although the 8 patients had hearing loss ipsilateral to the side of the vascular loop, it was not possible to conclude that there is an association between hearing loss and vascular loop of the AICA, due to the small number of patients with vascular loop, requiring further studies.It was concluded that, in view of a relevant topic in health and with an important impact on the quality of life of patients who are classified as hearing loss, it is necessary to carry out more researches on hearing losses that were considered to be idiopathic until then.

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