Cochlear Implant Made Easy by Bhopal Technique: Our Experience of 200 Patients

The objective of this work is to present a modified Veria technique named as "Bhopal technique" for cochlear implantation and to discuss & compare its benefits and drawbacks with Posterior tympanotomy and Veria technique.

The study design is a surgical procedure description and prospective study on 800 patients who underwent Cochlear implantation by various techniques for bilateral profound sensorineural hearing loss at Divya Advanced ENT Clinic, Bhopal between 2014 and 2018 and followed up for 12-30 months. Implants used in were Digisonic SP, Cochlear CI24RE and Medel Sonata TI100. Out of 800 total patients, 200 patients were operated with Bhopal Technique. All the patients were reviewed on basis of total duration of surgery, intraoperative difficulties and development of any post-operative complications.

All the patients were in the age range of 11 Months-7 years and the male: female ratio was of 2:1. In 200 patients operated with Bhopal Technique complications like electrode migration into the canal, excess electrode caught into suture, transcanal injury (Fig. 1c), corda nerve injury was not seen as against other technique in which 2 incidences of electrode migration and in 5 different cases transcanal injury, chorda nerve injury, tympanic membrane perforation was seen. The actual surgical time (excluding device testing) was less with Bhopal technique and ranged between 45 and 55 min.Fig. 1Comparison of intraoperative difficulties and late post- operative complication between Bhopal and Veria Technique in percentage.

Bhopal technique of Cochlear Implantation is a safe and versatile technique with good surgical outcomes which addresses shortcomings of Veria and posterior tympanotomy technique. It can be used for the implantation of all available devices with minimal operative risk and reduced operation time thus, offering prospects for better outcomes over other techniques.