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Clinical experience of auditory brainstem response testing on pediatric patients in the operating room
Guangwei Zhou1, Briana Dornan, Wheaton Hinchion
1Department of Otolaryngology and Communication Enhancement, Children's Hospital Boston, 300 Longwood Avenue LO-367 Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Insights
Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) testing accurately determined hearing status in children during surgery. While beneficial, factors affecting ABR results in the operating room require careful consideration for accurate interpretation.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric audiology
- Neurophysiology
Background:
- Assessing hearing loss in children with complex medical conditions presents challenges.
- Intraoperative Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) testing offers a potential solution for real-time auditory assessment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the feasibility, benefits, and limitations of performing intraoperative ABR testing in pediatric patients.
- To identify factors influencing the accuracy of intraoperative ABR results.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective review of 267 pediatric patients undergoing intraoperative ABR testing.
- Analysis of ABR results, medical/surgical notes, and follow-up evaluations.
Main Results:
- Successful determination of hearing status in all patients via intraoperative ABR.
- Documentation of hearing loss type and degree in most cases.
- Identification of several factors impacting intraoperative ABR outcomes.
Conclusions:
- Intraoperative ABR is a reliable method for evaluating hearing loss in medically complex children.
- Minimizing adverse factors and exercising caution in result interpretation are crucial for intraoperative ABR.
Abstract:
Objectives. To review our experience of conducting auditory brainstem response (ABR) test on children in the operating room and discuss the benefits versus limitations of this practice. Methods. Retrospective review study conducted in a pediatric tertiary care facility. A total of 267 patients identified with usable data, including ABR results, medical and surgical notes, and follow-up evaluation. Results. Hearing status successfully determined in all patients based on the ABR results form the operating room. The degrees and the types of hearing loss also documented in most of the cases. In addition, multiple factors that may affect the outcomes of ABR in the operating room identified. Conclusions. Hearing loss in children with complicated medical issues can be accurately evaluated via ABR testing in the operating room. Efforts should be made to eliminate adverse factors to ABR recording, and caution should be taken when interpreting ABR results from the operating room.
