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77th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

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

24.05. - 28.05.2006, Mannheim

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Management of deafness after bacterial meningitis

Management der postmeningitischen Ertaubung

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German Society of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. 77th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. Mannheim, 24.-28.05.2006. Düsseldorf, Köln: German Medical Science; 2006. Doc06hno021

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/hno2006/06hno021.shtml

Published: September 7, 2006

© 2006 Neumann 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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Background: Severe hearing loss or deafness are complications of bacterial meningitis in up to 15%. In these cases an auditory rehabilitation by cochlear implant treatment is generally accepted. Early beginning obliteration of the cochlea can lead to a difficult or impossible electrode insertion, to get optimal results a full insertion is to be demanded.

Methods: Due to a retrospective analysis of patients with cochlear implant treatment because of deafness or severe hearing loss after bacterial meningitis in the years 2002-2006 the managment of the preoperative diagnostic and the intraoperativ treatment is described and examples are shown.

Results: With early diagnosis and a fast operative treatment a full electrode insertion was possible in all cases. In case of a beginning obliteration of the inner ear structures a simultan bilateral cochlear implant operation was performed. The MRI is superior to a CT Scan showing early obliteration of the labyrinth.

Conclusions: The diagnosis of bacterial meningitis must lead to an early hearing scan. In case of deafness or severe hearing loss specialiced centers are to be contacted to get a fast imaging of the inner ear structures. Beginning obliteration indicates a quick simultan bilateral cochlear implant treatment. Patients with milder hearing loss should be treated with hearing aids. Due to a possible progressive hearing loss further inspections are necessary.

Outline

References

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