Objective: We report a case of successful cochlear implantation in a patient with petrous bone cholesteatoma in the only hearing ear.
Case report: A 63-year-old man presented with a four-year history of right-sided, progressive hearing loss in his only hearing ear. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging revealed a right supralabyrinthine petrous bone cholesteatoma, with erosion of the superior semicircular canal and the roof of the internal auditory canal. Due to the high risk of post-operative right-sided deafness, we decided first to perform left cochlear implantation. Five months later, the patient had a 40 per cent score for open-set two-syllable word recognition and an 85 per cent score for sentence recognition. Given these good performances, we decided to eradicate the cholesteatoma via a translabyrinthine approach, with insertion of a second cochlear implant, as a single-stage procedure. A successful outcome was achieved.
Conclusion: Cochlear implantation can be an effective method of hearing rehabilitation in patients with petrous bone cholesteatoma, following total eradication of disease, if the cochlea remains intact. To our best knowledge, this is the first English language report of cochlear implantation in a patient with petrous bone cholesteatoma.