title: PET-CT observations of cortical activity in pre-lingually deaf adolescent and adult patients with cochlear implantation.
abstract: CONCLUSIONS
  The present study yielded useful information concerning pre-lingually deaf adolescents and adults who try or manage to understand languages. PET-CT can provide insights into brain plasticity and elucidate which mode of communication is the most effective for education of such patients.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To study the cortical activity in pre-lingually deaf adolescent and adult cochlear implants (CI) users who have been trained in auditory-verbal/oral communication since childhood.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using positron emission tomography (PET) and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG), brain activities in six pre-lingually and two post-lingually deaf CI users (mean age at CI surgery = , 20.3 years; three males, five females) were compared with those of 10 normal age-matched controls (mean age = 27.1 years). Regional cerebral blood flow changes were measured during an acoustic presentation of a story.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In compliant CI users, the number of hypermetabolic auditory-related areas was greater in those who had a CI in their 20s than in those who did so in their adolescence. In poor and non-compliant users, hypermetabolism was not seen in the auditory association area, but in the primary auditory areas (BA41) and the Broca's area (BA45). In post-lingually deaf CI users, no increase in the number of hypermetabolic areas was found in auditory-related regions.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery , Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences , Nagasaki , Japan.
authors.forename: Haruo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.affiliation: a Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery , Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences , Nagasaki , Japan.
authors.forename: Haruo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.affiliation: a Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery , Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences , Nagasaki , Japan.|b Nagasaki Bell Hearing Center , Nagasaki , Japan.
authors.forename: Yukihiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kanda
authors.affiliation: c Nishiisahaya Hospital , Nagasaki , Japan.
authors.forename: Kenya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chiba
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D019929:Cochlear Implantation; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D003638:Deafness / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D000072078:Positron Emission Tomography Computed Tomography; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18
keywords: Cochlear implant; auditory cortex; auditory/verbal training; cortical activity; pre-lingually deaf adolescent and adult