This retrospective study analysed results in 24 paediatric patients with low-frequency residual hearing before and after minimally invasive cochlear implantation. The authors define minimally invasive cochlear implantation as a round window insertion of flexible Nucleus CI422, Nucleus CI522, MedEl Flex 28 and MedEl Flex 24 electrodes with low and stable insertion speeds over one minute. All patients received oral prednisone one day before and for seven days after surgery. Additionally, dexamethasone was administered intraoperatively to all patients. Patients were evaluated preoperatively and one month and 12 months postoperatively with pure tone thresholds, cervical/ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential (cVEMP/oVEMP) and video head impulse test. The results showed that hearing and vestibular function was preserved in the short and long term, but the retention of hearing was more pronounced than vestibular function. The authors conclude that minimally invasive cochlear implantation surgery is effective and feasible in paediatric patients and strongly recommend it for preservation of vestibular function.
Vestibular function preservation after minimally invasive paediatric cochlear implantation
Reviewed by Gauri Mankekar
Vestibular function and hearing preservation in children following a minimally invasive cochlear implantation.
CONTRIBUTOR
Gauri Mankekar
Department of Otolaryngology-Head Neck Surgery, Louisiana State University Shreveport, Louisiana, USA.
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