Imaging the cochlear response to injury

Abstract

There are many sites and methods of therapeutic interventions in the ear, but common to most, if not all of them is the risk of degradation of cochlear or vestibular function. This is despite the fact that these interventions are designed particularly to aid function of these organs. The principal aim of this thesis is to explore non-destructive methods of examining the cochlea’s response to attempted therapeutic interventions. Conventional histopathological techniques that have formed the basis of cochlear research over past decades involve potential disruption of anatomical relationships, distortion of fine structures and a lack of a ‘whole cochlear’ picture of the pathological respon..