Indications for CI reimplantation and CI survival rate

Introduction More than 50,000 people in Germany use a cochlear implant (CI). Potentially, revision surgery may become necessary in any patient due to technical defect, medical or other reasons. The aim of the present study is to analyze the reasons leading to CI reimplantation and to calculate the cumulative CI survival rate.

Material and Methods Retrospective data analysis of all adult CI patients at a university CI center was performed. We examined the reasons for indication for reimplantations performed from 1993 to 2020. Data from 122 reimplantations were analyzed and cumulative CI survival was calculated.

Results Data from 2279 adults were analyzed. The 3 most common reasons for reimplantation were soft failure (36%), hard failure (30%), or extrusion (17.2%). Reimplantation because of infection (6.5%), cholesteatoma (4%), or electrode dislocation (3%) was necessary in much fewer cases. 2 reimplantations (1.5%) occurred because of swelling over the implant and 1 (0.8%) because of facial nerve stimulation. Overall CI survival at 20 years was 89.4%.

Summary The majority of reimplantations were device-related. Medical complications were responsible for 34% of reimplantations. Thereby, the implants showed an overall survival of 89.4% after 20 years. Thus, an increasing number of reimplantations must be expected in the coming years. It could be expected that the number of purely device-related reimplantations for newer implants will tend to be reduced or remain stable at a low level due to technical advancements.

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Artikel online veröffentlicht:
24. Mai 2022