Cochlear implantation under local anesthesia: a possible alternative for elderly patients

Abstract

Cochlear implantation under local anesthesia is a safe and fast procedure for elderly patients. The intraoperative sound experience can give an extra motivation in the postoperative rehabilitation. Our results prove that by carefully selected elderly patients cochlear implantation can assure a significant increase in speech perception. We can establish that the new posterior suprameatal approach technique combined with local anesthesia presents a viable future option for those patients who were inoperable beforehand because of high risks of general anesthesia.