First auditory brainstem implant in the Czech Republic

In the Czech Republic, the first implantation of a stimulation electrode into the brainstem was performed on 11 January 1999 in the Department of ORL, Head and Neck Surgery, The First Medical Faculty, Charles University in Prague, University Hospital Motol. The selected patient was a 40-year-old woman with neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) who had previously undergone bilateral vestibular schwannoma surgery. Both tumours had been radically removed, the left-sided tumour in 1987, the right-sided one in 1988. She had been completely deaf since the last operation, i.e., for 11 years. The surgery was realized by the international cooperation of three teams. Placement of the electrode pad of the Nucleus CI21 + 1M system on the ventral and dorsal cochlear nuclei was performed. Electrically evoked auditory brainstem responses (EABRs) proved the correct position of the electrode array. The post-operative course was uneventful. Six weeks after the surgery the patient received her speech processor. Since that time, the patient already absolved several sessions of a speech processor tune-up. She uses the device as an aid in lip-reading. No adverse or pathological side effects have been observed. The patient was the 45th person in Europe to receive an ABI and the first in the Czech Republic.