Facial Nerve Management and Hearing Preservation and Rehabilitation in Petrous Bone Cholesteatoma (PBC).

Objective: To assess our experience in the management of the facial nerve and hearing rehabilitation in patients with petrous bone cholesteatoma (PBC).

Study design: Retrospective case review.

Setting: Tertiary referral center.

Patients: PBC cases managed by the senior authors between 1995 and 2024.

Main outcome measures: Clinical presentation, Sanna's classification, presurgical and postsurgical audiometry and facial function, surgical approach (including assisted endoscopic techniques), recurrence rates, intraoperative findings and facial nerve management, hearing rehabilitation, facial nerve repair techniques.

Results: Ninety-two cases were reported. The most common type was supralabyrinthine PBCs (40.43%). Hearing loss was present in almost all the patients (98.91%), with moderate mixed hearing loss (35.87%) being the most frequent preoperative audiometric finding. Hearing rehabilitation was performed in 11 patients (8 cochlear implants, 3 bone conduction implants). Postoperative normal function was achieved in 49 cases (53.26%). Intraoperatively, the facial nerve was interrupted in eight cases (13.3%). In five cases, a facial-hypoglossal nerve anastomosis was performed. Facial palsy was statistically more frequent in massive and supralabyrinthine PBCs ( p = 0.048). There is a statistically significant relation between preoperative and postoperative facial function and facial nerve intraoperative findings ( p = 0.001 and p = 0.000, respectively).

Conclusions: Advances in surgical techniques and early diagnosis have improved facial nerve preservation. However, surgical repair remains essential for patients with significant preoperative facial nerve involvement. On the other hand, although the primary focus in PBC surgery is complete disease removal and preservation of facial nerve function, the opportunity to rehabilitate hearing should not be overlooked.