More than a quarter century of cochlear implantations: a retrospective study on 1161 implantations at the Antwerp University Hospital

Objective: In this study, we aimed to describe the demographic profile of all 1161 implantations performed in the last 27 years, including sex, (evolution of) age at implantation, side of implantation, and rate of reimbursed cases; to identify the differences between the adult and the pediatric cochlear implant (CI) population; to describe the etiology of hearing loss in the adult and pediatric CI population; and to investigate the number and causes of the re-implantations. Methods: We performed a retrospective demographic analysis of all 1161 cochlear implantations performed at the Antwerp University Hospital between August 1993 and November 2020. Results: The vast majority of the adult population presented with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss (89%) of an unknown etiology (52%) and was unilaterally implanted at a median age of 60 years. In the pediatric population with congenital profound hearing loss, the median age at first implantation decreased significantly over time. During the past five years, the median age at first implantation was 12 months or younger for children with congenital hearing loss. A genetic cause was the most common etiology in children with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss (53%). Of all implantations, 4% were re-implantations. Re-implantations were performed on average ten years after the first implantation, and the most common reason for re-implantation was implant failure (76%). Conclusion: This study described the profile of 1161 adult and pediatric implantations between the start in 1993 and 2020 that were performed at the Antwerp University Hospital in parallel with the evolution of the Belgian reimbursement criteria. Cite this article as: Mertens G, Hofkens–Van den Brandt A, Boudewyns A, et al. More than a quarter century of cochlear implantations: a retrospective study on 1161 implantations at the Antwerp University Hospital. B-ENT 2021; 17(3): 155-63.