Abstract

ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND:
Cochlear implantation is a recent surgical treatment of deaf children, surgical difficulties may arise and has impact on outcome of implant.
OBJECTIVE:
To define the difficulties encountered during surgery and how the surgeon deals with them.
METHODS:
120 patients of bilateral severe to profound hearing loss who all had implantation in the department of otorhinolaryngology, medical city, during the period from July 2010 to September 2011. All of them received the Nucleus Freedom cochlear implant with Contour Advance Electrode, model CI24RE.
They are classified into two groups according to difficulty arises during surgery :(group a ) those identified during access to cochlea.(group b) those associated with difficult electrode insertion.
RESULTS:
Difficulties encountered during access occurred in 8 patients (6, 66%); Difficulties encountered during insertion of electrode occurred in 16 patients (13.33%).
CONCLUSION:
We concluded that although cochlear implant (C.I.) surgery is now well practiced , and difficulties during surgery are infrequent, the Surgical management of certain obstacles encountered during surgery demands expert knowledge of surgical technique for successful implantation .