[The complications of cochlear implantation and the methods for their treatment]

The objective of the present study was to improve the surgical component of cochlear implantation (CI) with special reference to the prevention and correction of its complications. A total of 967 cochlear implantation were performed on 847 patient treated based at the A. Geidarov Republican Hospital, Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan, and the Research and Clinical Centre of Otorhinolaryngology, FMBA of Russia during the period from 2014 till 2017. The majority of the patients (n=540) were the children at the age varying from 1 to 4 years. All surgical interventions were carried out under the supervision of a single experienced specialist. The check-up examinations were performed every three months during the postoperative period. The postoperative complications were categorized in terms of severity (as major and minor) and time of the first manifestation (intraoperative and delayed). The detailed analysis of all documented complications was performed including the description of their variants and causes as well as of the surgical strategy applied in each concrete case. The frequency of major and minor complications was estimated at 2.6 and 1.6% respectively. It is concluded that cochlear implantation performed by an experienced surgeon provides a relatively safe method for the treatment of the patients in the clinics with a low frequency of complications of such interventions. The most common cause of the major complications of cochlear implantation is the technical defect of the implants the frequency of which amounted to 68% in the present study.