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82nd Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

01.06. - 05.06.2011, Freiburg

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Case report: Postoperative variations in quality of hearing with changes in head position: Believe your patients!

Meeting Abstract

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  • corresponding author William Burke - Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Hannover, Deutschland
  • Jürgen Neuburger - Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Hannover
  • Thomas Lenarz - Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Hannover

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde, Kopf- und Hals-Chirurgie. 82. Jahresversammlung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde, Kopf- und Hals-Chirurgie. Freiburg i. Br., 01.-05.06.2011. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2011. Doc11hnod309

doi: 10.3205/11hnod309, urn:nbn:de:0183-11hnod3092

Published: April 19, 2011

© 2011 Burke et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

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Introduction: A 72 year-old patient with progressive sensorineural hearing loss underwent cochlear implant surgery in our tertiary referral university hospital. Following an unremarkable postoperative period, the patient presented 5 weeks later for the initial rehabilitation and fitting process. The patient reported differing impressions in the quality of hearing with changes in head position.

Methods: An intensive diagnostic examination of the device’s telemetry in varying head positions with subsequent explantation and reimplantation of the device.

Results: The telemetry yielded differing impedance values during flexion and extension of the neck. Based on this information, a technical defect in the implant was suspected. A revision operation was carried out in which the implant was replaced with a new device of the same model. During the subsequent rehabilitation and fitting process significantly improved speech comprehension was recorded, with the patient reporting stable quality of hearing. Post-explantation examination of the device revealed a defect in the electrode.

Conclusion: Unusual reports from patients are an intersting and not uncommon scenario for physicians. In this case, careful diagnostics yielded an excellent result for the patient.