Authors' objectives:

To summarise the available evidence on the use of cochlear implants.

Authors' recommendations: 1. After the first six months following the implantation, results are favourable in postlingually deafened children and adults, with statistically significant differences as compared to the initial situation. Stable levels were reached two years after the implantation. The implantees are capable of understanding speech, holding an interactive conversation (without lip-reading), and 50% are able to use the telephone. 2. Although monitoring carried out over the first five postimplantation years shows satisfactory progress in the results, there are no definitive data on prelingually deafened children. Moreover, under the same schooling and rehabilitation conditions, the results obtained in children with implants are significantly higher than those of children who used hearing aids or vibrotactile devices. 3. The very nature of this technology (electrical stimulation) and the prior impairment of the integral hearing process in patients, are the most significant limitations of their results. Complete recovery of aural physiology is therefore not possible. 4. Major surgical complications oscillate between 2% and 5% (especially with regard to flap problems and erosion of the rear wall of the external auditory canal), while minor complications oscillate between 6% and 25%; they are all transitory. 5. Cochlear implantation demands organization of a programme that ensures correct selection of a candidate, effective surgical performance and the ability to adequately follow-up and rehabilitate implantees. It is therefore absolutely necessary that there is a multidisciplinary coordinated team that is ready to perform the necessary tests on the patient and that has the experience required to carry out such a complex operation, both in the case of postlingually deafened adults as well as in prelingually deafened children or patients.

Authors' methods: Overview

Project Status: Completed

URL for project: http://www.isciii.es/aets

Year Published: 1995

English language abstract: An English language summary is available

Publication Type: Not Assigned

Country: Spain

Organisation Name: Agencia de Evaluacion de Tecnologias Sanitarias

Contact Address: Instituto de Salud "Carlos III", Calle Sinesio Delgado 6, Pabellon 4, 28029 Madrid, Spain. Tel: +34 9 1 822 2005; Fax: +34 9 1 387 7841;

Contact Name: Luis M. Sánchez Gómez

Contact Email: luism.sanchez@isciii.es

Copyright: Agencia de Evaluacion de Tecnologias Sanitarias (AETS)