Treatment of deafness with the use of cochlear implants in children with severe heart defects

Objective: To assess the treatment of hearing loss in children with severe heart defects after cardiac surgeries in their early life. The evaluation included the preparation to the surgery, the safety and effectiveness of cochlear implantation. The study design: It was a retrospective study. In our database there are 7 children (age: 2.5-5.5) with congenital heart defect who have had cardiac surgery. All of them were implanted with a Cochlear CI512 device. Late implantation was a result of a necessity to perform life-saving cardiac surgeries. The children are still under the observation of audiologists and speech therapists.Results: Assessment of the four-frequency average of indicative free field audiometry shows that there is an increase of hearing ability within a given time period: without sound processor (SP) the threshold of hearing had been 112.75 dB, with SP (three month after surgery) it was 67.5 dB, 6 months after surgery was 49 dB. After the cochlear implantation, speech development of implanted children was faster than observed prior to cochlear implant (CI) surgery. Conclusion: Pre-operation planning reduces the risk during cochlear implantation. Cochlear implantation is safe for children with heart defects, if they are early diagnosed and treated.