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

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.