Vol.101 No.9 contentsPRACTICA OTO-RHINO-LARYNGOLOGICA
Vol. 101 No. 9 September 2008
Retrospective Evaluation of Cochlear
Implantation in Children
Makoto Miura
(Kyoto University, Japanese Red Cross Society, Wakayama Medical Center)
Tatsunori Sakamoto, Harukazu Hiraumi, Shinichi Kanemaru and Juichi Ito
(Kyoto University)
This retrospective study included 106 children given cochlear implants in our hospital from 1991 to 2007. For the initial 4 years, all children receiving cochlear implants were over the age of 6 years. In recent years, however, there has been a growing trend to lower the age of implantation below 3 years. Almost 80％ of the cases suffered from unknown congenital hearing loss, and 10％ of the cases indicated post-meningitis deafness. Speech recognition tests after implantation showed good results except for children with congenital deafness aged over 8 years at implantation, congenital rubella syndrome, and severe inner ear anomalies such as semicircular canal aplasia. Furthermore, the evaluation of post-operative speech cognition in multi-handicapped children using cochlear implants is considered to require more time for an accurate estimation. The rate of delayed complications including MRSA infection and cholesteatoma formation was 7％ of all cases, and was considered to rise with an increase of the follow-up period.
Key words :cochlear implantation, children, speech recognition