Hearing preservation and hearing improvement after reimplantation of pediatric and adult patients with partial deafness: a retrospective case series review.

Objective: To report and review the clinical experiences of patients who required reimplantation from an ongoing trial of patients with partial deafness who were treated with electroacoustic stimulation (EAS) cochlear implantation.

Methods: Retrospective case series review. Methods: Tertiary referral center. Methods: Two patients with partial deafness, 1 child and 1 adult, who required reimplantation because of device failure occurring 12 to 18 months after hearing preservation cochlear implantation with a Med-El Sonata Flex-EAS electrode array. Methods: Reimplantation (with full insertion) of a Med-El Sonata Flex-EAS array (child) and the new complete cochlear coverage Med-El Sonata Flex-28 electrode array (adult). Surgical techniques used include round window insertion with slow insertion speed and the use of preoperative systemic steroids and preoperative, perioperative, and postimplantation intratympanic steroids. Methods: Preservation of residual hearing.

Results: Both patients had complete preservation of residual hearing after reimplantation. The adult patient had stable improvement in hearing from 750 to 2,000 Hz of 5 to 10 dB. Both patients reported increased benefit after reimplantation.

Conclusions: We report a case series of successful pediatric and adult EAS reimplantation, in the adult hearing improvement after reimplantation with a deep insertion electrode was observed. Reimplantation with preservation of residual hearing in patients with EAS is possible with current surgical hearing preserving techniques and atraumatic electrode arrays of variable length.