Cochlear Implantation After Traumatic Brain Injury.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study is to determine if a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI) degrades postoperative the audiological performance of patients with cochlear implantation (CI).

STUDY

DESIGN

Retrospective review.

SETTING

Department of Defense-wide database.

METHODS

International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) and ICD-10 codes were used to identify patients that were diagnosed with TBI prior to CI between 2005 and 2023. They were matched 2:1 with controls without TBI based on age and sex. Preoperative and postoperative pure tone average (PTA) thresholds and AzBio scores were compared.

RESULTS

Nineteen TBI patients representing 20 implanted ears were identified and matched with 39 patients without TBI representing 40 implanted ears. Thirteen ears carried a diagnosis of mild TBI, and seven were diagnosed with moderate to severe TBI. The average follow-up period was 44 months. The TBI group attained mean postoperative PTA and AzBio scores of 37 dB (SD 24) and 67% (SD 28). The non-TBI group attained scores of 31 dB (SD 12) and 69% (SD 26). P-values for the PTA and AzBio intergroup comparisons were .93 and .88, respectively. All TBI ears attained at least sound awareness after implantation, with 79% achieving open-set speech perception compared to 82% of non-TBI ears.

CONCLUSION

CI after TBI of any severity provides hearing rehabilitation comparable to patients without a prior diagnosis of TBI.