CNS / Brain · Organ at risk

Cochlea

Educational Summary

Dose constraints

High-Grade Glioma

ScheduleConstraintSource
60 Gy / 30 fx
Standard course
Mean <45 GyQUANTEC hearing
V55 Gy <5%eviQ 409

Keep as low as possible to reduce hearing loss.

Quoted from eviQ 409, checked 2026-09-25. Full table with references →

Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS)

ScheduleConstraintSource
1 fx
15–24 Gy
Mean <4 Gy (ideal)ACOUNEU (Marchetti 2025)
3 fx
24–30 Gy
Mean <7 Gy (ideal)ACOUNEU (Marchetti 2025)
5 fx
25–35 Gy
D0.035 cc ≤22 Gy (ideal)Timmerman 2022

1 and 3 fx goals come from a hearing-preservation trial in vestibular schwannoma.

Quoted from eviQ 3253, checked 2026-09-25. Full table with references →

Anatomy

The spiral organ of hearing in the inner ear, embedded in the petrous part of the temporal bone.

Function in the body

The hearing organ of the inner ear. It turns sound vibrations into nerve signals that travel to the brain.

Why it matters

Dose to the cochlea can cause sensorineural hearing loss, and cisplatin adds to the risk — which is why it matters most in nasopharynx and oropharynx chemoradiation. QUANTEC reviews the dose–effect data. In brain treatment it matters for temporal lobe and posterior fossa targets, and for radiosurgery near the internal auditory canal.

How to contour

Brouwer 2015 places it in the temporal bone, lateral to the internal auditory meatus, and recommends a CT bone window to find it. The EPTN 2018 atlas adds:

  • It sits in a small bony cavity in the petrous temporal bone, below the semicircular canals and lateral to the internal auditory canal.
  • On a bone window (WW/WL 120/1500 in the atlas) it shows up as a small cavity. It is also well seen on T2 MRI.
  • The semicircular canals are not included.

Because it is so small, Brouwer 2015 suggests expanding it by 5 mm when calculating DVH data, to make the numbers more consistent (while avoiding overlap with the PTV), and recommends a contrast CT with slices of 2 mm or less.

Further reading

  • Emami 2013 — Tolerance of normal tissue to therapeutic radiation
  • Scoccianti 2015 — Organs at risk in the brain and their dose-constraints in adults and in children: a radiation oncologist's guide for delineation in everyday practice Source
  • QUANTEC hearing — Radiation therapy and hearing loss (QUANTEC) Source
  • RTOG 0615 — RTOG 0615 protocol — A Phase II Study of Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy Using Three-Dimensional Conformal Radiotherapy (3D-CRT) or Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) + Bevacizumab (BV) for Locally or Regionally Advanced Nasopharyngeal Cancer Source

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