Long Term Outcomes After Vestibular Implantation

Purpose

Although cochlear implants can restore hearing to individuals who have lost cochlear hair cell function, there is no widely available, adequately effective treatment for individuals suffering chronic imbalance, postural instability and unsteady vision due to bilateral vestibular hypofunction. Prior research focused on ototoxic cases has demonstrated that electrical stimulation of the vestibular nerve via a chronically implanted multichannel vestibular implant can partially restore vestibular reflexes that normally maintain steady posture and vision; improve performance on objective measures of postural stability and gait; and improve patient-reported disability and health-related quality of life. This single-arm open-label study extends that research to evaluate outcomes for up to 8 individuals with non-ototoxic bilateral vestibular hypofunction, yielding a total of fifteen adults (age 22-90 years at time of enrollment) divided as equally as possible between ototoxic and non-ototoxic cases.

Conditions

  • Bilateral Vestibular Hypofunction
  • Bilateral Vestibular Deficiency
  • Bilateral Vestibulopathy
  • Gentamicin Ototoxicity
  • Aminoglycoside Toxicity
  • Vestibular Diseases
  • Sensation Disorders
  • Labyrinth Diseases
  • Other Disorders of Vestibular Function

Eligibility

Eligible Ages
Between 22 Years and 90 Years
Eligible Sex
All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
No

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

- Adults older than 22 years old who

- have previously been enrolled in Johns Hopkins University Institutional Review Board
protocol NA_00051349, IRB00335294 or IRB00346924 and

- have previously been implanted with a vestibular implant under FDA IDE G150198

Study Design

Phase
N/A
Study Type
Interventional
Allocation
N/A
Intervention Model
Single Group Assignment
Primary Purpose
Treatment
Masking
None (Open Label)

Arm Groups

ArmDescriptionAssigned Intervention
Experimental
Vestibular Implant
Up to 32 participants will undergo implantation, activation and deactivation of a Labyrinth Devices MVI™ Multichannel Vestibular Implant System (MVI)
  • Device: Labyrinth Devices MVI™ Multichannel Vestibular Implant System
    Continuously motion-modulated stimulation delivered by a vestibular implant already implanted under a prior study protocol (Labyrinth Devices MVI™ Multichannel Vestibular Implant System)
    Other names:
    • Motion-modulated stimulation delivered by a vestibular implant already implanted under a prior study protocol

Recruiting Locations

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Baltimore, Maryland 21287
Contact:
Lauren N Trainer, BS
410-502-5129
vestibularimplant@jhmi.edu

More Details

Status
Recruiting
Sponsor
Johns Hopkins University

Study Contact

Kelly Lane
410-502-8047
vestibularimplant@jhmi.edu

Detailed Description

There is no widely available, adequately effective treatment for individuals suffering chronic imbalance, postural instability and unsteady vision due to loss of semicircular canal function despite vestibular rehabilitation exercises. The experience of 15 adults with bilateral vestibular hypofunction who underwent unilateral surgical placement of a vestibular implant and have received continuously motion-modulated electrical stimulation of the vestibular nerve for >6 months revealed vestibular implantation (VI) and motion-modulated stimulation can partially restore vestibular sensation and reflexes that normally maintain steady posture and vision. This study will examine long-term outcomes after vestibular implantation. Within constraints on power and/or minimum detectable effect size due to limits on the number of study participants permitted under IDE G150198, the study will test the following hypotheses regarding unilateral vestibular implantation, activation and long-term (≥3 years) continuous/daily use: 1. It is safe, as determined by incidence of serious unanticipated adverse device-related events and as further quantified by proportions of: 1. implanted ears with preservation of 4-frequency pure tone average for 0.5,1,2,4 kHz air-conducted audiometric detection thresholds ≤ 50 decibel (dB) HL and ear-specific speech discrimination ≥50% (consistent with Class A or B per American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery 1995 guidelines 13 ) or ≤ 30 dB change from preoperative baseline (if preoperative baseline is ≥20 dBHL) and ear-specific speech discrimination ≤30% worse than preoperative baseline (if preoperative baseline is ≤80%) 2. participants with preservation of useful sound-field hearing by the above criteria, and 3. implanted ears with preservation of otolith endorgan function, if present pre-operatively 2. It is tolerable, as quantified by duration of compliance with use. 3. It is efficacious, as defined by nonzero improvement with respect to preoperative baseline gait stability as quantified by Dynamic Gait Index (DGI) and vestibulo-ocular reflex gain during passive head impulse rotation (VHITG) .