To evaluate the value of head and neck vascular ultrasound in the evaluation of sudden deafness complicated with cervical spondylosis.

From August 2016 to August 2017, a total of 58 patients diagnosed with sudden deafness complicated with vertebral artery type cervical spondylosis were selected as group A at the Department of Otolaryngology, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University. Fifty-eight patients with sudden deafness without cervical spondylosis were assigned to group B. In addition, 58 patients diagnosed as having vertebral artery type cervical spondylosis without sudden deafness during the same period were collected as group C. Neck vascular ultrasound was performed in the supine position and sitting + head flexion position (40°). Transcranial Doppler ultrasonography was performed in the prone position and a neck rotation test was performed. The mean blood flow velocity of the bilateral internal carotid arteries, bilateral vertebral arteries, and basilar artery was recorded. Paired t-test was used to compare the vascular velocity in the same artery before and after position change, and ANOVA was used for statistical analysis among multiple groups of vessels.

Ultrasonography of cervical blood vessels in sitting position + lowering head at 40° position showed that the bilateral internal carotid artery flow velocity in all three groups decreased to different degrees compared with that in supine position, among which, the difference of bilateral internal carotid artery flow velocity changes in the 2 groups with vertebral artery type cervical spondylosis was statistically significant (Group A: left internal carotid artery P=0.004, right internal carotid artery P=0.011; Group C: bilateral internal carotid artery P=0.000). There was no statistical significance in the changes of bilateral internal carotid artery flow velocity in sudden deafness patients without cervical spondylosis(Group B: bilateral internal carotid artery P＞0.05). The results of prone transcranial Doppler ultrasound showed that there were statistically significant differences in basilar artery and bilateral vertebral artery flow velocity among the three groups (P=0.000). In the cervical rotation test, the basilar artery and bilateral vertebral artery flow velocity in the three groups decreased to varying degrees compared with those in the prone position, among which, the difference in basilar artery and bilateral vertebral artery flow velocity changes in the 2 groups with vertebral artery type cervical spondylosis was statistically significant (Group A: basilar artery P=0.039, bilateral vertebral artery P=0.001; Group C: basilar artery P=0.042, right vertebral artery P=0.000, left vertebral artery 0.011). There was no significant difference in in the changes of basilar artery and bilateral vertebral artery flow velocity in patients with sudden deafness without cervical spondylosis (Group B: P＞0.05).

Head and neck vascular ultrasound combined with the changes in the patient's position can better reflect the changes in the flow velocity of the internal carotid artery, basilar artery, and vertebral artery, so as to provide a diagnostic basis for determining the existence of vertebral artery-type cervical spondylosis in patients with sudden deafness.