Cortical plasticity in the first year after cochlear implantation

This study aimed to investigate changes in auditory and visual cortical activity over the first year following cochlear implantation using (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography. Subjects underwent scanning prior to the initial implant activation (control), after one to two months of implant use (early activation) and after one year of implant use (late activation). All subjects had activation of the auditory cortices. Group analysis using Statistical Parametric Mapping package SPM99 showed these became more focused over the first year of implant use. There was no evidence of left hemispheric dominance at any stage post implantation.Visual cortical activations were highly variable between patients and did not increase significantly between early and late activations. Taken together, our results lead us to suggest that the neural processes that occur during the first year of auditory rehabilitation following cochlear implantation vary between individuals to a greater extent than previously reported.