"Researchers Identify Best Practices for Cochlear Implant Hearing Preservation"
Cochlear implants that have electrodes designed without wire perform better than those with wires for long-term hearing preservation, a Mount Sinai researcher has reported in a first-of-its-kind study. The research also determined that the best surgical approach for cochlear implant procedures did not involve drilling into the bone around the ear. "This is the largest clinical study done in the world on conventional electrodes and will have major implications for doctors and their patients who need their long-term hearing restored," said the study's lead investigator, George B. Wanna, MD, site chair of otolaryngology, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary at Mount Sinai. Dr. Wanna and the researchers also looked at the impact of two major surgical approaches used to insert the electrodes in the inner ear: "round window" (where surgeons open the membrane without bone removal or drilling in the inner ear) and "cochleostomy" (which requires drilling into the bone to get inside the inner ear). They reported that patients who had the round window approach had a much better chance of keeping their residual hearing in the long term.
- George Wanna, MD, Site Chair, Otolaryngology, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary at Mount Sinai, Senior Faculty, Otolaryngology, Neurosurgery
Additional coverage:
Politico