Long-Term Safety and Quality of Life after Vibroplasty in Sensorineural Hearing Loss: Short/Long Incus Process Coupler.

OBJECTIVE

The study shows the long-term effectiveness, safety, and quality of life after Vibrant Soundbridge (VSB) implantation in sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) using the short process coupler (SP) or the long process coupler (LP).

METHODS

This retrospective study evaluated 77 VSB cases. Follow-up (F/U) time-dependent objective measurements (audiological outcomes), subjective data collection (quality-of-life questionnaire), and safety measures are presented.

RESULTS

Sixty-two ears were included in the analysis with up to 116 months of postsurgical F/U data (mean 32.15 ± 37.97 months LP and SP coupler). Fifty-three ears (13 bilateral cases) received the LP coupler and 9 subjects the SP coupler. The post-operative bone conduction thresholds remained stable and, in both groups, <10 dB. The benefit in word recognition scores measured at 65 dB SPL and 80 dB SPL showed no significant difference between the couplers (p = 0.559 and p = 0.088, respectively). The functional gain was not significantly different (p > 0.05) with a mean of 20.91 ± 9.77 and 17.19 ± 5.75 for LP and SP coupler, respectively. The utility score deciphered from the Assessment of Quality-of-life Questionnaire-8 dimensions revealed a mean score of 0.75 ± 0.16 which is not significantly different to the age- and sex-matched healthy control group with 0.81 ± 0.02 (p = 0.3547).

CONCLUSION

The Incus Vibroplasty utilizing both couplers is a safe and effective method to treat mild-to-severe SNHL. Both fixation methods of the floating mass transducer exhibit good clinical and audiological outcomes with high patient quality of life. The SP coupling method can be a good alternative when the long process is anatomically inaccessible, or the approach is limited due to anatomical reasons.