| | ArabMedicare.com News
Abu Dhabi | December 2, 2003
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Cochlear Implant
Surgery Under Local Anesthesia
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Abu Dhabi -Magrabi Eye and Ear
Center in Abu Dhabi has just conducted its first cochlear implant
operation under local anesthesia. The operation was conducted by
Magrabi's ENT surgeon Dr Ahmed Handoussa on a 50 year old patient.
Cochlear implants are very small devices inserted from behind the
ear into the cochlear and connect to a receiver worn behind the ear.
This allows a person with hearing difficulties to be able to hear
again.
Dr Amr Abdul Razek, resident ENT and cochlear implant surgeon at
Magrabi Eye and Ear Center explained that Cochlear implants involve
an incision of between 3cms and 10cms in the back of the head and
are usually conducted under general anesthesia. "In this unique
case, (the first after 200 cochlear implant done by Magrabi, all
under General Anesthesia), the patient was 50 years old who has
recently lost his hearing and was also suffering from a range of
health problems. These problems made it prohibitive for us to put
him under general anesthesia as we would have increased the risk of
complications," he said.
"Although local anesthesia has many benefits including being
safer, the patient recovers earlier and has a shorter stay in the
hospital it is seldom, if ever used in cases of cochlear implant,
and thus this is an uncommon procedure on a world wide scale.
The patient has recovered from the surgery and the incision has
healed. Our audiologist has started with the first of several tuning
sessions to get the right frequency in the implant," he added.
Unlike cochlear implants in children who were born deaf, a
50-year-old patient who has been able to talk and hear before will
not need to undergo a long period of speech therapy, in such cases
the advantages of having a cochlear implant are almost
instantaneous.
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