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OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the safety and feasibility of cochlear implantation (CI) in irradiated ears of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients. STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective study. METHODS: From 2008 to 2017, 10 adults with binaural severe or profound sensorineural hearing loss subsequent to radiotherapy for NPC underwent CI in our center. The mean follow-up was 63.2 months. Hearing and speech performance were evaluated pre- and postoperatively with audiometric and speech discrimination testing, Category of Auditory Performance, Speech Intelligibility Rating, and Chinese version of Nijmegen Cochlear Implant Questionnaire. RESULTS: According to the severity of radioactive osteomyelitis of temporal bone, patients were classified into three categories: mild, moderate, and severe. Patients in mild category underwent routine CI. Patients in moderate category underwent extended radical mastoidectomy and CI simultaneously. Patients in severe category underwent subtotal temporal bone resection, external auditory canal elimination, and CI simultaneously or by stage. There was no massive hemorrhage, facial paralysis, or nonunion of incision after operation. One suffered from radiation encephalopathy 13 months postoperatively; since then, the cochlear implant has been idle. The other nine patients demonstrated encouraging results of hearing and speech performance. CONCLUSION: CI for postirradiated ears of NPC is safe and feasible. Strict control of operative indications and extra care during surgery are required. Individual surgical plan should be made according to the severity of radioactive osteomyelitis. Choose one-stage surgery as much as possible in severe cases to avoid the risk of difficulty in locating round window in second-stage surgery. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4 Laryngoscope, 131:649-655, 2021.
Huang et al. (Thu,) studied this question.