Results of Revision Surgery after Cochlear Implantation

Overview

Cochlear implantation is a safe and effective clinical method to restore hearing andcommunication in deaf patients. As is the case in any other clinical methods there are someproblems, failures and complications. In this paper the series of patients that required surgicalrevision due to various reasons are evaluated. Surgical, anatomical and functional results areevaluated.From 1994 the authors have implanted 95 deaf patients. There were 6 (6,3 %) reoperations in thisseries of patients. The indication for reoperation were: device failure in 2 cases (Medel C40+), flapbreakdown in 2 cases, head injury in 1 case, iatrogenic damage to electrodes in one case.Surgical and anatomical results of all except one revisions were excellent. Functional results in all6 patients confirmed that they all reached at least the same results as with the first implant if notbetter soon after the revision surgery. The average time to reach original results was 6.3 monthsafter revision.Cochlear re-implantation is a safe and effective surgical procedure that gives very good functional,anatomical and surgical results.

Key words:
cochlear implantation, revision surgery, device failure, functional results.