Revision Surgery for Pediatric Nontumor Auditory Brainstem Implant Users: Audiological, Rehabilitative, and Surgical Outcomes

Objective: To report the audiological, rehabilitative, and surgical outcomes of revision surgery for pediatric auditory brainstem implant (ABI) users. Study Design: Retrospective cohort. Setting: Tertiary referral center. Patients: Five pediatric ABI users who had revision surgery for device malfunctions. Intervention(s): Revision surgery for ABI malfunctions. Main Outcome Measures: The findings of free-field audiometry with the device, the Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale, and the pattern discrimination, word identification, sentence recognition, and expressive and receptive language tests before the device failure and after revision surgery were obtained from the patient records and compared. Results: The revision rate for pediatric ABI was 6.45%. The Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale and expressive-receptive language scores showed improvements following revision surgery, while the aided thresholds, pattern perception, and word identification scores did not change. Individual differences in performance for these measures were observed. Conclusion: Equal or improved performance after the revision surgeries in the current study showed that revision surgery is successful and important for pediatric ABI users. It is essential to consider remedying the loss of auditory input in sensitive periods of pediatric development.