Cortical thickness analysis and optimized voxel-based morphometry in children and adolescents with prelingually profound sensorineural hearing loss

Brain structure is changed in congenital anosmia

“…Children with prelingually profound sensorineural hearing dysfunction exhibited reduced cortical thickness, but in non-auditory areas, no difference in gray matter volume was found (Li et al, 2012). In one particularly interesting study, people with congenital amusia had a thicker right auditory cortex (Hyde et al, 2007).…”

Altered White Matter Integrity in Adolescents with Prelingual Deafness: A High-Resolution Tract-Based Spatial Statistics Imaging Study

“…Morphologic correlates have been documented by MR imaging showing that deaf persons have significantly decreased volumes in auditory brain areas or an increased gray matter/WM ratio in the Heschl gyrus and in other auditory-related brain areas. [5][6][7][8] Electroencephalographic studies in children with cochlear implants confirmed the need for proper stimulation in early life. 9 However, despite treatment, gross alterations in brain anatomy may still prevail as a consequence of prelingual deafness, but the localization and extent of such changes are not well understood.…”

Cortical thickness analysis – The methods

“…Cortical thickness analysis has already been used to look at the normal thinning of the cortex with age (Salat et.al 2004), to see the changes in the brain after a sensory loss (Li et.al 2004), or if the brain differs from a control when one of the senses was never there (Frasnelli et.al 2013). It has been used to explore how diseases such as Parkinson's disease (Wu et.al 2011) and Alzheimer's disease (Li et.al 2012) affects the brain, and how an early start at life may affect the development of gray matter (Nagy, Lagercrantz & Hutton 2011, Kapellou et.al 2006, Martinussen et.al 2005, Nosarti et.al 2014.…”

“…Together all of these methods have been used to examine the effect of loss of a sense like hearing or smell (Li et.al 2012, Frasnelli et.al 2013, the effect of Alzheimers disease (Li et.al 2012), Parkinsons disease (Wu et.al 2011), and aging (Salat et.al 2004, Van Velsen et.al 2013. It has also been used to see the effect of a premature birth (Nagy, Lagercrantz & Hutton 2011, Kapellou et.al 2006, Martinussen et.al 2005, Nosarti et.al 2014, as well as the effect of psychiatric disorders such as bipolarity (Oertel -Knöchel et.al 2015, Giakoumatos et.al 2015, schizophrenia (Zugman et.al 2015), ADHD (Fernández-Jaén et.al 2015) and autism (Richter et.al 2015).…”