INEGI, Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Porto, Portugal.
INEGI, Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Porto, Portugal; FEUP, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
J Biomech. 2021 Dec 2;129:110812. doi: 10.1016/j.jbiomech.2021.110812. Epub 2021 Oct 16.
A cochlear implant is an electronic device implanted into the cochlea to directly stimulate the auditory nerve. Such device is used in patients with severe-to-profound hearing loss. The cochlear implant surgery is safe, but involves some risks, such as infections, device malfunction or damage of the facial nerve and it can result on a poor hearing outcome, due to the destruction of any present residual hearing. Future improvements in cochlear implant surgery will necessarily involve the decrease of the intra-cochlear damage. Several implant related variables, such as materials, geometrical design, processor and surgical techniques can be optimized in order for the patients to partially recover their hearing capacities The straight electrode is a type of cochlear implant that many authors indicate as being the less traumatic. From the finite element analysis conducted in this work, the influence of the insertion speed, the friction coefficient between the cochlear wall and the electrode array, and several configurations of the cochlear implant tip were studied. The numerical simulations of the implantation showed the same pattern of the insertion force against insertion depth, thus indicating the different phases of the insertion. Results demonstrated that lower insertion speeds, friction coefficients and tip stiffness, led to a reduction on the contact pressures and insertion force. It is expected that these improved configurations will allow to preserve the residual hearing while reducing surgical complications.
人工耳蜗是一种植入耳蜗内的电子设备，直接刺激听神经。该设备用于重度至极重度听力损失的患者。人工耳蜗植入手术是安全的，但涉及一些风险，如感染、设备故障或面神经损伤，并且由于任何现有残余听力的破坏，可能导致听力结果不佳。未来人工耳蜗植入手术的改进将不可避免地涉及减少耳蜗内损伤。可以优化一些与植入物相关的变量，如材料、几何设计、处理器和手术技术，以使患者部分恢复听力能力。直电极是一种人工耳蜗，许多作者认为它的创伤较小。从本工作进行的有限元分析中，研究了插入速度、耳蜗壁和电极阵列之间的摩擦系数以及耳蜗植入尖端的几种配置对植入的影响。植入的数值模拟显示了插入力与插入深度的相同模式，从而表明了插入的不同阶段。结果表明，较低的插入速度、摩擦系数和尖端刚度会降低接触压力和插入力。预计这些改进的配置将有助于在减少手术并发症的同时保留残余听力。
