Article Published In Vol.4 (Nov-Dec-2016)

Candidacy of cochlear implantation for paediatric prelingual patients

Author : Hazim Mohammed Khudair FICMS(ENT) CABS(ORL_HNS), Ahmed Abbas Taher, CABS, Laith Ali Mahmood MBChB, FIBMS(ENT), Maha Faeq Majeed FICMS

Background: Hearing loss is one of the most common paediatric health Conditions with moderate to profound bilateral hearing loss identified in 2-3 infants per 1000 births. Cochlear implant (CI) technology has markedly changed potential outcomes for children with moderately severe or worse sensorineural hearing loss by offering an opportunity for auditory stimulation.The objectives are to predicate the outcome of cochlear implant and to determine the factors that contribute for cochlear implant candidacy.
Patients and method: this is cross sectional study conducted at the department of Otolaryngology, Ghazi AL-Hariri Surgical Specialties Hospital, Medical City Complex, Baghdad. The study involved 45 patients with age ranged from 2 to 6 years with bilateral severe to profound hearing loss who were operated upon at our Department During the period from October 2010 through May 2011 and followed up 6 month post implantation.
Results: The highest age group was (60-72) months (51 %), while the lowest age was (36-47) months (13%). The mean age of the patients was 51.11 months. Most of them were male 64.4%. The highest rate of performance was seen in patient’s age (24-59) months 100% and it decreased with increment of the age. The lowest rate of performance was seen in patient’s aged (60-72) months 52.1%. It was found that none of patients of poor educational status of parent class recorded good rate of performance, while the patients of good educational status of parent class recorded the highest rate of performance 92.9%. According to speech therapy and programming the highest rate of performance 100 % were recorded among regular patients, while those of irregular programming recorded the lowest rate of performance. Regarding the use hearing aid, those patients higher rate of good performance among patients using hearing aid 100%, than patient’s not using it 56%.
Conclusion: The age of patients is very important factor in cochlear implant candidacy, the youngest age the best performance of children. The benefit of hearing aid between 3-6 months before cochlear implant play important role in candidacy. The speech therapy and programming after cochlear implant are the main stay of candidacy

Keywords: Cochlear implantation, pediatric prelingual patients, candidacy.