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OUTCOMES OF COCHLEAR IMPLANTATION IN PRELINGUAL HEARING IMPAIRED CHILDREN WITH ABNORMAL PREIMPLANTATION IMAGING FINDINGS

Background: In pediatric patients who are about to undergo cochlear implantation, preimplantation imaging to assess any abnormality in the inner ear or brain is crucial. The literature has shown that inner ear malformation affects auditory and speech development. The objective of this study was to analyze the outcomes of cochlear implant (CI) in children with abnormal imaging findings. Material and methods: All children had undergone high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) of the temporal bone and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the internal acoustic canal and brain as part of routine preimplantation evaluations. Outcomes of CI were measured using Category of Auditory Performance II (CAP-II) and Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (MAIS). Results: There were 25 patients who initially underwent unilateral CI, but 2 patients were excluded, leaving 23 patients in the study. There were 4 patients who had inner ear malformations and another 3 presented with brain findings, while the remaining 16 children had normal findings. In both prelingual hearing impaired children with abnormal and normal imaging findings, there were significant improvements in CAP-II score following CI (p = 0.020 and p = 0.002, respectively). Similarly, there were statistically significant in MAIS scores in prelingual hearing impaired children with abnormal imaging (p = 0.017) as well as with normal imaging (p = 0.001). However, when comparing the CAP-II and MAIS scores between children with normal and abnormal imaging, there were no significant differences observed (p = 0.624 and p = 0.376, respectively). Conclusions: This study demonstrated that prelingually hearing impaired children with abnormal HRCT and MRI findings gained benefits from CI. Therefore, abnormal imaging findings should not be a limiting factor in CI candidacy.