Comparing Cochlear Duct Lengths Between CT and MR Images Using an Otological Surgical Planning Software

Objective: 

We sought to examine the intra- and interobserver variability in measuring the cochlear duct length (CDL) from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images versus computed tomography (CT) images using an otological surgical planning software that uses measurements of the basal turn diameter and cochlear width to estimate the CDL.

Patients: 

Twenty-one adult cochlear implant patients with preoperative MRI and CT images.

Intervention: 

Three fellowship-trained neurotologists served as the raters in the study. One rater measured the CDL using preoperative CT scans to serve as the benchmark. Two of the raters measured the CDL on preoperative MRI scans. One rater also remeasured the scans using MRI images after a period of 1 week to assess intraobserver variability.

Main Outcome Measure: 

Intraclass correlational coefficients were calculated to assess for intra- and interobserver agreement.

Results: 

The mean CDL measured from the CT scans was 32.7 ± 2.0 mm (range 29.4 – 37.6 mm). The mean difference between the raters when measuring the CDL using MRI scans was −0.15 ± 2.1 mm (range −3.2 to 4.3 mm). The intraclass correlational coefficients for inter-rater reliability of CDL determination using MRI scans was judged as fair to excellent (0.68; 95% CI 0.41–0.84). The intrarater reliability of CDL determination using MRI scans was judged at fair to excellent (0.73; 95% CI 0.491–0.866).

Conclusion: 

We demonstrate that a validated otological surgical planning software for estimating the CDL preoperatively had comparable performance using MRI scans versus the gold-standard CT scans.