Long‐Term Outcomes of Cochlear Implantation in Irradiated Ears of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Patients

Abstract

Objectives To evaluate the safety and feasibility of cochlear implantation (CI) in irradiated ears of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients. Study Design A retrospective study. Methods From 2008 to 2017, 10 adults with binaural severe or profound sensorineural hearing loss subsequent to radiotherapy for NPC underwent CI in our center. The mean follow‐up was 63.2 months. Hearing and speech performance were evaluated pre‐ and postoperatively with audiometric and speech discrimination testing, Category of Auditory Performance, Speech Intelligibility Rating, and Chinese version of Nijmegen Cochlear Implant Questionnaire. Results According to the severity of radioactive osteomyelitis of temporal bone, patients were classified into three categories: mild, moderate, and severe. Patients in mild category underwent routine CI. Patients in moderate category underwent extended radical mastoidectomy and CI simultaneously. Patients in severe category underwent subtotal temporal bone resection, external auditory canal elimination, and CI simultaneously or by stage. There was no massive hemorrhage, facial paralysis, or nonunion of incision after operation. One suffered from radiation encephalopathy 13 months postoperatively; since then, the cochlear implant has been idle. The other nine patients demonstrated encouraging results of hearing and speech performance. Conclusion CI for postirradiated ears of NPC is safe and feasible. Strict control of operative indications and extra care during surgery are required. Individual surgical plan should be made according to the severity of radioactive osteomyelitis. Choose one‐stage surgery as much as possible in severe cases to avoid the risk of difficulty in locating round window in second‐stage surgery. Level of Evidence 4 Laryngoscope, 131:649–655, 2021

Cochlear Implant Outcomes in the Chinese-Speaking Adult Population: A Systematic Review

“…1). Study characteristics of all studies reviewed are summarized in the Patient, Intervention, Comparator, Outcome, and Study Design table (Table 1) (12,15–59). Seventeen case-control and cohort studies were evaluated with the Newcastle–Ottawa scale, representing 39% of the included studies (Table S1, http://links.lww.com/MAO/B687) (16–19,22,28,34–36,38,40,42,46,51–53).…”

“…However, the accuracy noted for Mandarin-speaking patients appears to be lower than that described in previous studies among English-speaking CI users (40). Only one study evaluated quality of life in 10 subjects, among whom all subdomain (i.e., self-esteem, social interaction) scores improved significantly postimplantation (29).…”

Cochlear Implantation Outcomes in Patients With Retrocochlear Pathology: A Systematic Review and Pooled Analysis

“…Screening by title and abstract excluded 2,345 studies. Full-text review excluded 126 studies, and a total of 53 publications were included in the final analysis (2,5,6,8–10,15–61). A diagram of the search process can be found in Figure 1.…”

Effects of Age on Delayed Facial Palsy After Otologic Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…The systematic review yielded 29 publications for inclusion which are outlined in Table 1. 1,12-39 Eleven of these assessed adults and pediatric cases, whereas 10 focused solely on pediatrics and 8 on adults. A total of 16 pediatric DFP cases were identified out of 6855 cases evaluated and 48 adult DFP cases out of 4749 cases evaluated.…”