Residual hearing preservation during cochlear implantation.Influence of implant insertion technique and of erythropoietin administration in an animal model

Contact

• Name : Vincent Couloignier
• E-mail : vincent.couloigner@nck.ap-hop-paris.fr

Presentation

Recently, the indications of cochlear implantation were extended to severe deafness with residual hearing.

In such cases, the preservation of residual hearing during cochlear implantation allows to use both electric and acoustic stimulations on the implanted side, with subsequent improvement in musical melodies recognition and spoken language discrimination in noise.

With classical implantation techniques, the residual hearing can be preserved in approximately 50 % of cases. New implantation procedures and implant models were developed in order to better preserve residual hearing: "soft" surgery, shorter and thinner electrode arrays, decreased depth of electrodes insertion, local or systemic administration of otoprotective drugs.

In the present project, the otoprotective effect of erythropoietin will be studied in an animal model of cochlear implantation.