Revisional Cochlear Implant Surgeries in Adults

Introduction: Cochlear implant (CI) surgery allows hearing reestablishment among individuals with severe to profound hearing loss. However, only few patients will need a surgical reassessment. Objectives: To verify the incidence of surgical reassessment among adult patients; to verify the reasons that led the second surgery to be performed; to verify the efficacy—and audiological outcomes—of revisional surgery. Method: A longitudinal retrospective cohort study was carried out with the review of medical records, of adult patients, with bilateral severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss who underwent to revisional surgery, from 2004 to 2016 at a CI Center, in Brazil. Results: One hundred fifty-eight CI surgeries were performed among 137 adult patients. Fourteen revisional surgeries were performed among 10 patients: five surgeries were due by displacement of the internal unit; one because of having excessive subcutaneous tissue; one due to non-progression of the electrodes during the initial surgery, one late tympanic membrane perforation, one late facial palsy and, one due to a suture dehiscence in the surgical incision with exposure of the internal unit. Conclusions: The incidence of surgical reassessment among adult CI patients was 8.9%. All implanted patients that underwent a new surgical approach maintained an improved auditory threshold after revisional CI surgery.