ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Complications in Children and Adults with Cochlear Implant Background: Cochlear Implants (CI) are developed in the last 20 years to a regular therapy in congenital deaf children/newborns and deafened teens and adults. The success of speech understanding with the CI in adults is so extraordinary that meanwhile also unilateral deaf, contralateral normal hearing persons are implanted. In case of early implanted children a nearly normal speech development is possible in most of the cases. MATERIAL UND METHODS: Nevertheless the surgical procedures is a challenge concerning the potential complications combined with a foreign body, the CI, in a non-steril part of the ear. RESULTS: This paper reports on the complications in a patients collective, implanted within 21 years. Separated within the severity of the complications and their therapeutic consequences (conservative and surgical) it could be shown that the incidence of severe perioperative complications within the second decade could be reduced from 3.92% (first decade) to 1.8%. Also the companies have learned to construct the products more save. CONCLUSION: In summary the reliable and complete postoperative control and the modification of therapy concepts leads to a constant reduction of complications.
