Incidence for tip foldover during cochlear implantation

Introduction:

Malplacement of an electrode carrier during cochlear implantation (CI) is a seldom but possible complication, one possibility for this is array tip foldover during insertion.

The aim of this investigation was to determine the incidence for this kind of complication in a bigger collective and with regard to different electrode designs.

Material und Methods:

1535 CI-patients who received an implant over during the period of January 2005 to October 2018 were enclosed in this study,. The electrodes implanted were 891 preformed, 1001 straight und 69 mid-scalar arrays. All patients underwent postoperative, radiological control by means of modified stenvers view, computed tomography or digital volume tomography. In cases of tip foldover evaluation was carried out with regard to perimodiolar, lateral and mid-scalar positioned electrode carriers.

Results:

In 1535 patients (1961 implanted ears) 17 electrode tip foldovers were detected, which corresponds to a rate of 0,87%. Within the group of perimodiolar arrays this complication occurred in 15 out of 891 cases (1,68%). Straight and thereby lateral positioned electrode carriers deviated in 2 out of 1001 cases (0,19%). No malpositioning was found within the group of mid-scalar electrodes (69 cases).

Conclusion:

In a bigger collective of CI-patients tip foldover arose at a rate of 0,87%, which could be detected by means of radiological imaging. Especially preformed electrode carriers carry this risk, which was approximately 9 times higher than within the group of straight or mid-scalar electrodes.

Publication History

Publication Date:
23 April 2019 (online)