title: [Investigate of the learning curve of cochlear implantation].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the learning curve of cochlear implantation and its guiding significance for clinical surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective analysis of the clinical data of two otologists in early cochlear implant surgeries, including 98 cases of Dr. A and 54 cases of Dr. B.Statistics of the two doctors incidence of complications and operating time. Operation time as index were drawing a, b two groups of cases of scatter plot, the oscillating sine curve model Y = sin(X)-P/2 and logarithmic curve model Y = b1ln(X)+b0 curve fit were analyzed. Then, extract the early 90 cases of surgery by Dr. A which was divided into a, b, c three groups with 30 cases a group. The operating time and complications were further compared and analyzed(SPSS 16.0).
  
  
  RESULTS
  From the operation sequence,A and B physicians, early operation cases cost more operating time, and more complications.Learning curve before and after about 30 cases appeared inflection point, showing a rapid decline in period (learning phase) and slow decline period (consolidation phase) in two stages.Group contrast to Dr. A's early 90 consecutive cases, the operating time of Phase b and Phase c decreased significantly than Phase a (P(a-b) < 0.01, P(a-c) < 0.01), while there was no significant difference between group Phase b and Phase c (P(b-c) = 0.68), the complication rate of Phase b and Phase c decreased significantly than Phase a (P(a-b) < 0.01, P(a-c) < 0.01), while there was no significant difference between group Phase b and Phase c (P(b-c) = 0.15).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our department of cochlear implantation followed the learning curve rule. The minimum number of cases that should accumulate in the learning phase needs about 30 cases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning 530021, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning 530021, China.
authors.forename: Songhua
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning 530021, China.
authors.forename: Qin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning 530021, China.
authors.forename: Wenjie
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Miao
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning 530021, China. Email: anzhoutang@126.com.
authors.forename: Anzhou
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tang
mesh_terms: D019929:Cochlear Implantation / Q000193:education*; D007858:Learning; D059032:Learning Curve; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors