title: Hearing Preservation After Penetrating Cochlear Injury.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To share results and recommendations for management of penetrating cochlear injury.
  
  
  METHODS
  A patient underwent repair of a penetrating cochlear injury after a projectile led to a traumatic cochleostomy with a narrow miss of the facial nerve and intracranial carotid artery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Postoperatively, the patient's audiogram demonstrated a pure tone average of 47.5 dB for air conduction and 35 dB for bone conduction, worse in the high frequencies, with a Word Recognition Score of 76%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hearing loss from a penetrating cochlear injury can be mitigated with early repair, minimizing inner ear trauma, and steroid use to treat posttraumatic labyrinthitis.
authors.affiliation: 1 Division of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
authors.forename: George S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Tarasidis
authors.affiliation: 1 Division of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.|2 Department of Radiology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
authors.forename: Richard H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Wiggins
authors.affiliation: 1 Division of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
authors.forename: Richard K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Gurgel
mesh_terms: D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000328:Adult; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D003051:Cochlea / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000293:injuries* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D020197:Head Injuries, Penetrating / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007762:Labyrinthitis / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D018058:Tympanic Membrane Perforation / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*
chemical_list: D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones
keywords: cochlear injury; otology; pneumocochlea; pneumolabyrinth; traumatic hearing loss