Publications by authors named "Christoph Pfeiffer"

Introduction: Based on clinical practice guidelines, the application of corticosteroids as a first-line therapy is common. Although sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL) etiology is primarily idiopathic, hearing loss can result from a perilymphatic fistula (PLF). Recent findings show evidence of a specific rate of PLF based on a cochlin-tomoprotein (CTP) detection test.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study aimed to investigate the relationship between cochlin tomoprotein testing (CTP), MRI findings, and hearing balance functions in patients experiencing sudden hearing loss.
  • Eight patients with sudden hearing loss and possible vertigo or tinnitus were examined using CTP testing through middle ear samples and various MRI techniques.
  • Results showed that while all patients exhibited non-specific contrast enhancement in the affected ear on MRI, only some had positive CTP tests indicating a potential perilymphatic fistula, but no MRI signals specifically indicated this condition.
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: In most cases, intralabyrinthine schwannoma (ILS) occurs in patients with unilateral hearing deterioration or neurofibromatosis type II (NF II). The pattern of localization of these tumors varies but mostly affects the cochlea. Extirpation of the cochlear schwannoma, if hidden by the cochlea modiolus, is difficult under the aspect of complete removal.

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Introduction: Surgical treatment of Ménière's disease (MD) and deafness aims to treat vertigo and hearing disabilities. Current treatment options like labyrinthectomy and cochlear implantation (CI) have shown acceptable results but are destructive. Less destructive procedures, like the occlusion of the lateral semicircular canal and endolymphatic sac surgery, have been shown to be successful in vertigo control.

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Objective: Epilepsy surgery requires localization of the seizure onset zone (SOZ). Today this can only be achieved by intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG). The iEEG electrode placement is guided by findings from non-invasive modalities that cannot themselves detect SOZ-generated initial seizure activity.

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Introduction: Cochlear implantation in patients with Ménière's disease (MD) is the treatment of choice in cases of functional deafness. Additional vertigo control is of central importance in this group of patients. Endolymphatic hydrops (ELH) is the pathophysiological correlate of MD and can be evaluated by magnet resonance imaging (MRI).

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Background: Intralabyrinthine schwannoma (ILS) is a rare, mostly unilateral disease that causes deafness. Different intralabyrinthine sites of ILS can occur and can be removed by different surgical approaches. Cochlear ILSs are frequently partially hidden by the modiolus and therefore difficult to extirpate.

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Purpose Of Review: This study assesses the current state of knowledge of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC), which are malignancies arising from the orifices and adjacent mucosae of the aerodigestive tracts. These contiguous anatomical areas are unique in that 2 important human oncoviruses, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and human papillomavirus (HPV), are causally associated with nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal cancers, respectively. Mortality rates have remained high over the last 4 decades, and insufficient attention paid to the unique viral and clinical oncology of the different subgroups of HNSCC.

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Magnetoencephalography (MEG) has a unique capacity to resolve the spatio-temporal development of brain activity from non-invasive measurements. Conventional MEG, however, relies on sensors that sample from a distance (20-40 ​mm) to the head due to thermal insulation requirements (the MEG sensors function at 4 ​K in a helmet). A gain in signal strength and spatial resolution may be achieved if sensors are moved closer to the head.

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Objective: Conventional MEG provides an unsurpassed ability to, non-invasively, detect epileptic activity. However, highly resolved information on small neuronal populations required in epilepsy diagnostics is lost and can be detected only intracranially. Next-generation on-scalp magnetencephalography (MEG) sensors aim to retrieve information unavailable to conventional non-invasive brain imaging techniques.

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Source modelling in magnetoencephalography (MEG) requires precise co-registration of the sensor array and the anatomical structure of the measured individual's head. In conventional MEG, the positions and orientations of the sensors relative to each other are fixed and known beforehand, requiring only localization of the head relative to the sensor array. Since the sensors in on-scalp MEG are positioned on the scalp, locations of the individual sensors depend on the subject's head shape and size.

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Objective: To present the technical design and demonstrate the feasibility of a multi-channel on-scalp magnetoencephalography (MEG) system based on high critical temperature (high-[Formula: see text]) superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs).

Methods: We built a liquid nitrogen-cooled cryostat that houses seven YBCO SQUID magnetometers arranged in a dense, head-aligned array with minimal distance to the room-temperature environment for all sensors. We characterize the performance of this 7-channel system in terms of on-scalp MEG utilization and present recordings of spontaneous and evoked brain activity.

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We present noise measurements performed on a YBaCuO nanoscale weak-link-based magnetometer consisting of a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) galvanically coupled to a 3.5 × 3.5 mm pick-up loop, reaching white flux noise levels and magnetic noise levels as low as [Formula: see text] and 100 fT/[Formula: see text] at T = 77 K, respectively.

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Accurate estimation of the neural activity underlying magnetoencephalography (MEG) signals requires co-registration i.e., determination of the position and orientation of the sensors with respect to the head.

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While commercial magnetoencephalography (MEG) systems are the functional neuroimaging state-of-the-art in terms of spatio-temporal resolution, MEG sensors have not changed significantly since the 1990s. Interest in newer sensors that operate at less extreme temperatures, e.g.

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The development of new magnetic sensor technologies that promise sensitivities approaching that of conventional MEG technology while operating at far lower operating temperatures has catalysed the growing field of on-scalp MEG. The feasibility of on-scalp MEG has been demonstrated via benchmarking of new sensor technologies performing neuromagnetic recordings in close proximity to the head surface against state-of-the-art in-helmet MEG sensor technology. However, earlier work has provided little information about how these two approaches compare, or about the reliability of observed differences.

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