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The frequency of cochlear implantation has increased tremendously over the past decade. Cochlear implantation is often performed as an outpatient procedure and is considered an acceptable treatment for severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss in patients who are refractory to conventional hearing augmentation. Imaging plays an important part in the work-up of cochlear implant candidates, and an understanding of imaging evaluation procedures is essential. The radiologist must be familiar with imaging findings that contraindicate implantation (absence of the cochlea or cochlear nerve) and with those that could significantly alter surgery (facial nerve dehiscence, cochlear ossification). It is also imperative to be familiar with the growing number of imaging options (particularly magnetic resonance [MR] imaging pulse sequences) to optimize evaluation of cochlear implant candidates. Imaging choices will be substantially influenced by the manufacturer of the computed tomographic scanner or MR imager. Radiologists will assume an expanding role in evaluating affected patients as the frequency of cochlear implantation continues to increase.

We aimed to determine the effect of supplementation with coenzyme Q10 on conventional therapy of children with cardiac failure due to idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. In a prospective, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial, we randomized 38 patients younger than 18 years with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy to receive either coenzyme Q10, chosen for 17 patients, or placebo, administered in the remaining 21. Echocardiographic systolic and diastolic function parameters were determined for every patient at baseline, and after 6 months of supplementation. The index score for cardiac failure in children as established in New York was used for assessing the functional class of the patients. After 6 months supplementation, 10 patients randomized to receive coenzyme Q10 showed improvements in the grading of diastolic function, this being significantly more than that achieved by those randomized to the placebo group (p value = 0.011). The mean score for the index of cardiac failure index for those receiving coenzyme Q10 was also lower than the control group (p value = 0.024).Our results, therefore, indicate that administration of coenzyme Q10 is useful in ameliorating cardiac failure in patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy through its significant effect on improving diastolic function.

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