Stimulation of the cochlear nucleus with multichannel auditory brainstem implants and long-term results: Freiburg patients.

Since 1992 18 patients with bilateral retrocochlear deafness have been provided with a multichannel auditory brainstem implant (ABI). The surgical procedure implies tumour removal and ABI implantation in one stage. Most implantations were via the translabyrinthine approach. The long-term follow-up varied between nine and 80 months. In one case auditory perception could not be achieved and in a second case post-operative stimulation was not possible as the subject died due to lung emboli. In all the other cases auditory perception was achieved and only two subjects became non-users during the follow-up period. The presented long-term results suggest that deaf neurofibromatosis type 2 patients regain acoustic contact with the environment, enlarge their communication skills and improve their quality of life by using a multichannel auditory brainstem prosthesis.