Percutaneous Bone-Anchored Hearing Implant Surgery: Do Syndromic Children Have More Adverse Perioperative Outcomes?

ObjectiveTo evaluate and compare perioperative outcomes of percutaneous bone-anchored hearing implant (BAHI) surgery in syndromic and nonsyndromic pediatric patients.Study DesignRetrospective cohort studySettingMcGill University Health Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.PatientsForty-one pediatric patients (22 syndromic, 19 nonsyndromic) who underwent percutaneous BAHI surgery between March 2008 and April 2021.InterventionPercutaneous BAHI surgery.Main Outcome MeasuresPatient demographics (age at surgery, gender, implant laterality), operative information (American Society of Anesthesia [ASA] score, anesthesia type, surgical technique, implant/abutment characteristics), and postoperative outcomes (implant stability, soft tissue integrity, surgical revisions, implant failure).ResultsThe most frequent syndromes among implanted patients were Treacher Collins (27.3%), Goldenhar (13.6%), Trisomy 21 (13.6%), and Nager (9.1%). Syndromic patients were more frequently given higher ASA scores: 2 (p = 0.003) and 3 (p = 0.014). All cases of implant extrusion were in syndromic patients: two posttraumatic and two failures to osseointegrate. Nine (40.9%) syndromic patients experienced a Holgers Grade 4 skin reaction at one of their postoperative follow-up visits as compared to 0% of nonsyndromic patients (p < 0.001). Implant stability was similar between cohorts at all postoperative time-points, except for significantly greater nonsyndromic implant stability quotient scores at 16 weeks (p = 0.027) and 31+ weeks (p = 0.016).ConclusionsPercutaneous BAHI surgery is a successful rehabilitation option in syndromic patients. However, it presents a relatively higher incidence of implant extrusion and severe postoperative skin reactions as compared to nonsyndromic patients. In light of these findings, syndromic patients may be great candidates for novel transcutaneous bone conduction implants.