Surgical considerations and audiological results of cochlear implantation in patients with otosclerosis

BACKGROUND/AIM: To emphasize the role of cochlear implantation (CI) in the auditory rehabilitation of patients with otosclerosis (OS) and share our surgical experiences on this rare group of patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Retrospective analysis of the patients who have a diagnosis of otosclerosis and implanted between January 1998–May 2019 was performed. Preoperative and postoperative clinical, radiological, audiological and surgical findings are presented. RESULTS: Among 2195 patients who have been implanted in our institution, 12 (0.54%) met the diagnostic criteria of OS according to their preoperative (clinical, radiological, audiological) and peroperative (surgical) findings. Electrode insertion was performed via “round window membrane and cochleostomy” in 8 and 4 patients, respectively. No major complications occured. All patients showed satisfactory performances by means of audiometric scores postoperatively. Nonauditory stimulation (NAS) which manifested as “facial twitching” was a challenging problem in one patient during the surgery and subsided after the operation. CONCLUSION: Our experience on CI in patients with OS revealed that the implantation was a relatively safe procedure and had satisfactory impact on audiological performances.