Translabyrinthine Tumor Removal with Concurrent Bone-Anchored Hearing Aid Placement

Abstract

Objectives:

(1) Describe the safety profile of performing translabyrinthine tumor removal and bone-anchored hearing aid placement during the same surgical procedure. (2) Describe the overall patient satisfaction of those individuals who underwent the above procedure.

Methods:

Retrospective review from a tertiary neurotologic referral center of 154 patients who underwent concurrent translabyrinthine tumor resection and bone-anchored hearing device placement between 2004 and 2012. Patient records were reviewed to identify postoperative complication rates and bone-anchored hearing device usage. A Fisher’s exact test was used to compare the qualitative variables and Student t test was used for the quantitative comparison.

Results:

One hundred twenty-one (78.6%) of 154 patients undergoing concurrent translabyrinthine tumor removal and bone-anchored hearing device placement had no device-related complications. The most common device-related complications were skin overgrowth (8.4%), acute infection (5.2%), and chronic infection (3.2%). The overall and specific complication rates did not statistically differ from published bone-anchored device complication rates (all P < .05). One patient (0.7%) developed a cerebrospinal fluid leak at the placement site of the bone-anchored device. Of the 145 patients with at least 1-year follow-up, 137 (95.5%) were still regularly using their bone-anchored hearing devices.

Conclusions:

Patients undergoing concurrent translabyrinthine tumor removal and bone-anchored hearing device placement exhibit similar device-related complication profiles as patients undergoing standard device placement. Based on these outcomes and the high long-term usage rates, translabyrinthine intracranial surgery and bone-anchored hearing device insertion can be considered a useful and safe procedure.