title: The inferior cochlear vein: surgical aspects in cochlear implantation.
abstract: The patency of the inferior cochlear vein (ICV) may be challenged in cochlear implantation (CI) due to its location near the round window (RW). This may be essential to consider during selection of different trajectories for electrode insertion aiming at preserving residual hearing. Venous blood from the human cochlea is drained through the ICV. The vein also drains blood from the modiolus containing the spiral ganglion neurons. Surgical interference with this vein could cause neural damage influencing CI outcome. We analyzed the topographical relationship between the RW and ICV bony channel and cochlear aqueduct (CA) from a surgical standpoint. Archival human temporal bones were further microdissected to visualize the CA and its accessory canals (AC1 and AC2). This was combined with examinations of plastic and silicone molds of the human labyrinth. Metric analyses were made using photo stereomicroscopy documenting the proximal portion of the AC1, the internal aperture of the CA and the RW. The mean distance between the AC1 and the anterior rim of the RW was 0.81 mm in bone specimens and 0.67 mm assessed in corrosion casts. The AC1 runs from the floor of the scala tympani through the otic capsule passing parallel to the CA to the posterior cranial fossa. The mean distance between the CA and AC1 canal was 0.31 and 0.25 mm, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Sciences, Head and Neck Surgery, Section of Otolaryngology, Uppsala University Hospital, 751 85, Uppsala, Sweden. gr522@sina.com.|Department of Otolaryngology, General Hospital of Air Force, Beijing, 100142, China. gr522@sina.com.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Sciences, Head and Neck Surgery, Section of Otolaryngology, Uppsala University Hospital, 751 85, Uppsala, Sweden. alali626@163.com.|Department of Otolaryngology, Air Force Aviation Medicine Research Institute Affiliated Hospital, Beijing, 100089, China. alali626@163.com.
authors.forename: HongLei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Sciences, Head and Neck Surgery, Section of Otolaryngology, Uppsala University Hospital, 751 85, Uppsala, Sweden. chenwe301@sina.com.|Department of Otolaryngology, General Hospital of Air Force, Beijing, 100142, China. chenwe301@sina.com.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Air Force Aviation Medicine Research Institute Affiliated Hospital, Beijing, 100089, China. zxq7001@sina.com.
authors.forename: XiaoQuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Sciences, Head and Neck Surgery, Section of Otolaryngology, Uppsala University Hospital, 751 85, Uppsala, Sweden. lwoo24@gmail.com.|Department of Otolaryngology, Uppsala University Hospital, 751 85, Uppsala, Sweden. lwoo24@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Sciences, Head and Neck Surgery, Section of Otolaryngology, Uppsala University Hospital, 751 85, Uppsala, Sweden. helge.rask-andersen@akademiska.se.|Department of Otolaryngology, Uppsala University Hospital, 751 85, Uppsala, Sweden. helge.rask-andersen@akademiska.se.
authors.forename: Helge
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rask-Andersen
mesh_terms: D002102:Cadaver; D002550:Cerebral Veins / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D003051:Cochlea / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000601:surgery; D019929:Cochlear Implantation / Q000379:methods*; D003638:Deafness / Q000601:surgery*; D007758:Ear, Inner / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008953:Models, Anatomic
keywords: Cochlea; Cochlear implants; Human; Inferior cochlear vein