Clinical performance of children following revision surgery for a cochlear implant.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to describe the causes for revision surgery and to compare clinical performance before and after surgery in children who required electrode reinsertion.


METHODS
Soundfield thresholds and speech recognition scores were compared before device failure and following electrode reinsertion. Temporal bones from a deceased adult implant user who underwent bilateral revision implantation were analyzed.


RESULTS
Histopathology in the adult temporal bones revealed new bone formation in the scala tympani and substantially reduced spiral ganglion counts, with open-set speech recognition realized. Of 28 children undergoing revision surgery, 18 required electrode reinsertion. With the exception of 1 patient with severe cochlear malformation, new electrode arrays were fully inserted without difficulty. Clinical outcomes between pre-device failure and post-electrode reinsertion did not differ statistically.


CONCLUSIONS
Electrode reinsertion is technically feasible in the pediatric population. The majority of children recover their prerevision clinical performance.


METHODS
C-4.
Fayad
Jose N
JN
House Ear Institute, 2100 West Third Street, Los Angeles, CA 90058, USA. jfayad@hei.org
Eisenberg
Laurie S
LS
Gillinger
Melinda
M
Winter
Margaret
M
Martinez
Amy S
AS
Luxford
William M
WM
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001309:Auditory Threshold / Q000502:physiology; D002102:Cadaver; D002452:Cell Count; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019929:Cochlear Implantation / Q000379:methods*; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D004868:Equipment Failure; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009999:Ossification, Heterotopic / Q000503:physiopathology; D012086:Reoperation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012533:Scala Tympani / Q000473:pathology; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology; D013136:Spiral Ganglion / Q000473:pathology; D013701:Temporal Bone / Q000473:pathology; D016896:Treatment Outcome