Surgical considerations and audiological results of cochlear implantation in patients with otosclerosis

Abstract

Background/aim: To emphasize the role of cochlear implantation CI in the auditory rehabilitation of patients with otosclerosis OS and share our surgical experiences on this rare group of patients. Materials and methods: Retrospective analysis of the patients who have a diagnosis of otosclerosis and implanted between January 1998-May 2019 was performed. Preoperative and postoperative clinical, radiological, audiological and surgical findings are presented. Results: Among 2195 patients who have been implanted in our institution, 12 0.54% met the diagnostic criteria of OS according to their preoperative clinical, radiological, audiological and peroperative surgical findings. Electrode insertion was performed via "round window membrane and cochleostomy"in 8 and 4 patients, respectively. No major complications occured. All patients showed satisfactory performances by means of audiometric scores postoperatively. Nonauditory stimulation NAS which manifested as "facial twitching"was a challenging problem in one patient during the surgery and subsided after the operation. Conclusion: Our experience on CI in patients with OS revealed that the implantation was a relatively safe procedure and had satisfactory impact on audiological performances.