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RESEARCH PRODUCT
Reliability of cochlear implants.
Jan MaurerE. A. ZieglerNicolaos Marangossubject
AdultReoperationmedicine.medical_specialtymedicine.medical_treatmentDentistryAudiologyCumulative survival03 medical and health sciences0302 clinical medicineCochlear implantotorhinolaryngologic diseasesMedicineHumans030223 otorhinolaryngologyChildSurvival rateReliability (statistics)business.industryEquipment Failure AnalysisEquipment Failure AnalysisCochlear ImplantsOtorhinolaryngologyCochlea implant030220 oncology & carcinogenesisSurgerysense organsImplantbusinessdescription
Background The long-term reliability of cochlear implants over time is an important issue for patients and cochlear implant teams. The calculation of cumulative survival rates including all hard failures of cochlear implants is suitable to report objectively about cochlear implant reliability. Methods This is a report of 192 cochlear implants from different manufacturers in adults (n = 58) and children (n = 134). Results The overall cumulative implant survival rate was 91.7% for a period of 11 years. The main reasons for hard failures were design errors of the products and direct or indirect trauma to the cochlea implant site (especially in children) with consecutive breaks of the implant body or electrodes. Conclusions To improve our knowledge about reliability of cochlear implants more studies on cumulative long time survival of cochlear implants are needed, where functional failures and complications for whatever reason (design, mechanical, electronic, medical) are included. Cochlear implant reliability data should be considered during the choice of an implant for each individual patient.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005-05-01 | Otolaryngology--head and neck surgery : official journal of American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery |