Artikel
Durability of hearing preservation and regeneration capacity of the cochlear nerve following vestibular schwannoma surgery
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Veröffentlicht: | 2. Juni 2015 |
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Gliederung
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Objective: The purpose of this research was to examine the durability of hearing preservation and the regeneration capacity of the cochlear nerve following vestibular schwannoma (VS) surgery in a prospective study.
Method: A total of 112 patients were recruited for a randomized multicenter trial between January 2010 and April 2012 in order to investigate the efficacy of prophylactic nimodipine treatment versus no prophylactic nimodipine treatment in VS surgery. For the present investigation both treatment groups were pooled to compare hearing abilities in the early postoperative course and one year after the surgery. Hearing was examined by pure-tone audiometry with speech discrimination, which were performed preoperatively, in the early postoperative course and 12 months after surgery and subsequently classified by a blinded otorhinolaryngologist using the Gardner-Robertson scale.
Results: Hearing ability at two time points was compared by evaluation in the early postoperative course and one year after surgery in 102 patients. Chi-square-test showed a very strong association between the two measurements in all 102 patients (p<0.001), and in the subgroup of 66 patients with preserved cochlear nerve (p<0.001).
Conclusions: There is no significant change of cochlear nerve function between the early postoperative course and one year after VS surgery. The result of hearing performance as evaluated in early postoperative audiometry after VS surgery seems to be a reliable prognosticator for future hearing ability.