ABSTRACT
Introduction: We report a case of successful rehabilitation of hearing with a cochlear implant in a patient with nasopharyngeal carcinoma who developed post-irradiation hearing loss following treatment. Clinical Picture: A 55-year-old Chinese lady suffered from radiation-induced sensorineural hearing loss due to treatment for nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Audiological tests and imaging studies showed an intact retrocochlear pathway. Treatment: Cochlear implantation. Outcome: Cochlear implant was done with successful rehabilitation of hearing until the time of this report. Conclusions: If functionally active auditory fibres survive with no recurrent tumour, successful rehabilitation of post-irradiation induced sensorineural hearing loss is possible with a cochlear implant in a patient with nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a common disease in Asia.1 Radiotherapy is the mainstay of treatment. Following radiotherapy, complications like profound sensorineural hearing loss may occur. If functionally active auditory fibres survive and there are no signs of recurrent tumour, we believe that successful rehabilitation is possible with a cochlear implant. From the literature, there is only 1 case report of successful rehabilitation with cochlear implant in a patient who developed sensorineural hearing loss after radiotherapy. We report a case of successful rehabilitation with cochlear implant in a patient with nasopharyngeal carcinoma who developed post-irradiation sensorial hearing loss after treatment with radiotherapy.
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