Minimally invasive surgery as a new clinical standard for bone anchored hearing implants—real-world data from 10 years of follow-up and 228 surgeries

PURPOSE: To explore the clinical practice development of different surgical techniques when installing bone-anchored hearing implants and their associated trends in outcomes. DESIGN: Retrospective study of 228 bone-anchored hearing implants in 200 patients, performed over a 10-year period between 2012 and 2022 in a referral hospital. METHOD: Real-world data of demography, etiology, surgical setup, complications, and audiological outcomes were collected. Eligibility criteria from clinical practice were applied. RESULTS: The minimally invasive technique is associated with shorter surgery duration, 20 vs. 44 min as compared to a linear incision technique. The minimally invasive technique was also associated with a lower occurrence of complications when compared to linear incision techniques (intraoperative; 1.8% vs. 4.9%, postoperative; 49% vs. 66%). Most differences were seen in complications relating to skin and wound healing. CONCLUSION: Adoption of a minimally invasive surgical technique for the installations of bone-anchored hearing implants can reduce surgical complexity without compromising safety aspects or clinical benefits.