Outcomes of Cochlear Implantation in Patients with Temporal Bone Trauma: A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis

Establish outcomes following cochlear implantation (CI) in patients following temporal bone trauma. Systematic review and narrative synthesis. Medline, Pubmed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Collection, and ClinicalTrials.gov. No limits are placed on language or year of publication. The review conducted in accordance with the PRISMA statement. Searches identified 223 abstracts and 64 full texts. Of these, 23 studies met the inclusion criteria reporting outcomes in 77 patients with at least 96 implants. Hearing outcomes were generally good with most patients demonstrating improved audiological and functional outcomes. Complications were reported in 14 cases with 10 of these being major. The methodological quality of included studies was modest, predominantly consisting of case reports and non-controlled case series with small numbers of patients. All studies were OCEBM grade IV. Hearing outcomes following CI in temporal bone trauma are good with useful functional improvement demonstrated in the majority of patients. It appears to be an effective method of aural rehabilitation and should be considered in selected cases following hearing loss due to temporal bone fracture.