Post by Vincent Van Rompaey

[email protected] | When Cochlear Implants Reach the End of Their Lifespan and Need Replacement: Data from NKO UZA-UAntwerpen. 🎓 Proud to share our latest work published in B‑ENT: “Cochlear Reimplantation and Its Etiology at the Antwerp University Hospital: A 29‑Year, Single‑Center Experience in Children and Adults.” https://lnkd.in/ewZ6a_VQ 💡 Why this matters As more patients receive cochlear implants — and earlier in life — revision surgery will become increasingly relevant. Understanding failure patterns helps improve patient counseling and long-term care. ⚠️ Revision cochlear implant surgery should be carried out by experienced surgeons due to the challenges of removing older electrodes, dealing with fibrosis, and inserting a new array with proper telemetry. Careful preoperative matching of current electrode designs to the original implant is crucial. Overall, revision surgeries show high success rates, with hearing outcomes typically stable or improved. 🔍 What we studied A comprehensive retrospective analysis of 1313 cochlear implantations performed at UZA between 1993 and 2022, with focus of the present study on 60 reimplantations. 📈 Key findings - Institutional reimplantation rate: 4.3% (54/1253). - Device-related failure remains the leading cause (70%). - No significant difference in failure rate or time to failure between children and adults. - Reimplantation surgery continues to offer excellent outcomes when performed by experienced teams. Hélène Van Gaver Griet Mertens Okan Öz Ellen Cochet Olivier M Vanderveken Marc Lammers Universitair Ziekenhuis Antwerpen Universiteit Antwerpen - Faculteit Geneeskunde en Gezondheidswetenschappen