New Cochlear Implant project

The Department of Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Surgery has started a project to evaluate cochlear implants (CI-video from YouTube) surgery at the Interventional Centre. Before the operations the patients are functioning as deaf with the diagnosis anacusis. CI surgery is performed in a highly specialized surgical procedure where tiny electrodes are placed in internal anatomical structures of the patients ear, the spiral-shaped cochlea, to stimulate the patient's hearing nerve directly. Parts of the CI device is also placed under the skin behind the patients ear. A surgical microscope is used during the procedure, and biomedical engineers verify the electrode placement by use of sophisticated software for measurements of nerve stimulation. The combined angio and surgery suite at the Interventional centre facilitates high quality CT-scans to verify optimal CI electrode position in the patients inner ear. The positioning of the electrode is critical for the patient's outcome, thus thoroughly investigated in the project. CI electodes from different vendors are scrutinized in the project, and the ENT team lead by dr Greg Jablonski is very exited about the advanced tecnological set-up in the OR at the Interventional Centre. On the picture to the right Dr. Jablonski can be seen using the surgical microscope, and the X-ray C-bow attached to an industrial robot is seen in the background. The ENT surgeons hope to be able to develop and use intraoperative image support to optimize electrode placement in the future.