The Envoy Esteem Hearing System: Single Surgeon Experience

Abstract

Objectives:

(1) Review the results of patients undergoing Envoy Esteem implantation from December 2010 through December 2013. All procedures were performed by the same senior surgeon (S.J.M.). (2) Analyze results following implantation of the Envoy Esteem System to determine if patients achieved statistically significant improvement in pure tone average (PTA).

Methods:

Patients undergoing implantation at Loyola University Medical Center were analyzed regarding preoperative, postimplantation audiometric data, complications, infections, and revision surgery. Study design: Institutional review board approved, retrospective study.

Results:

A total of 109 Esteem related procedures were performed. Seventy-one primary implants were performed. A total of 51 were male and 20 were female. A total of 29 revision cases were performed. Additionally, 9 patients were explanted and 9 cases were aborted prior to implantation. The average age of the implant population was 62.8 years old. The average length of follow-up was 20 months. A total of 43 primary implant patients had sufficient data available for analysis. The mean preoperative PTA was 63.4 dB and the mean postoperative PTA was 50.7 dB. Patients demonstrated a 9.90 dB average increase in PTA. A paired t test was used to determine if the difference was statistically significant. The difference proved to be statistically significant with a t-stat of 5.87, which was statistically significant at the .05 level of confidence.

Conclusions:

Initial results of The Envoy Esteem system demonstrated a significant hearing benefit in our study population. The revision surgery rate of 26.6% is concerning and patients need to be aware of this potential issue.