Department of Otolaryngology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Laryngoscope. 2021 Apr;131(4):E1275-E1278. doi: 10.1002/lary.29023. Epub 2020 Aug 15.
When the impedance of an electrode contact is highly increased in a cochlear implant, a failure of the appropriate electrode seems obvious. We present a case where impedances of some electrodes were at the lower edge of the normal range and not regarded as suspicious neither by the clinical fitting software nor by in-vivo tests conducted by the implant manufacturer. However, speech comprehension was substantially degraded and sound perception distorted. Also, on the affected electrodes, loudness perception was compromised and responses of the electrically evoked compound action potential were no longer measureable. After re-implantation, the subjective sound percept was clear again and speech comprehension scored much better than before. Later, inspection of the explant revealed shorts on the device and the implant was classified as device failure. Our case shows the importance of collecting longitudinal data of cochlear implant patients, i.e. device related technical measurements and hearing performance data, and the consideration of all these data in cases of patient complaints or suspected implant failures. Laryngoscope, 131:E1275-E1278, 2021.
当耳蜗植入物的电极接触阻抗显著升高时，适当电极的失效似乎是显而易见的。我们报告了一个案例，一些电极的阻抗处于正常范围的下限，临床拟合软件和植入物制造商进行的体内测试均未将其视为可疑。然而，患者的言语理解能力明显下降，声音感知也发生扭曲。此外，在受影响的电极上，响度感知受损，电诱发复合动作电位的反应也无法测量。重新植入后，患者的主观声音感知恢复正常，言语理解能力也明显好于之前。后来，对取出的植入物进行检查，发现设备上有短路，植入物被归类为设备故障。我们的案例表明，收集耳蜗植入患者的纵向数据（即与设备相关的技术测量和听力性能数据）以及在患者有抱怨或疑似植入物故障时考虑所有这些数据的重要性。《喉镜》，131：E1275-E1278，2021。
