New Delhi, Apr 10 (PTI) A seven-year old boy suffering from congenital external and middle ear anomalies with severe degree of hearing loss has received a new lease of life after undergoing a successful implant surgery at the army’s command hospital in Pune.
The defence ministry in a statement on Wednesday claimed that the hospital had become the “first government hospital” across the country to procure and conduct the successful ‘piezoelectric bone conduction’ hearing implant procedure.
The department of ear, nose and throat (ENT) at Command Hospital (Southern Command) in Pune has conducted two piezoelectric bone conduction hearing implants (BCI) in a seven-year old boy suffering from congenital external and middle ear anomalies with severe degree of hearing loss; and one adult with single-sided deafness (SSD), the ministry said.
Active piezoelectric bone conduction hearing implant system is an implantable medical electronic device for hearing impaired patients, (conductive loss — including aural atresia — mixed hearing loss and single sided deafness). The cost of the equipment has always been a concern, making its reach limited, the statement said.
The ENT department of the Command Hospital, Pune is a designated neurotology centre of the AFMS (Armed Forces Medical Services).
The department has been providing implantable hearing solutions to dependent clientele for a number of years, the statement said.
There are certain group of patients with “conductive or mixed hearing loss” or patients with single-sided deafness, who cannot undergo cochlear implantation and do not benefit with hearing aids or middle ear surgery. To reduce the associated disability, it is imperative to provide hearing augmentation for better academic outcome in children and social life in adults, it said.
Bone conduction implantation is the definitive hearing solution in such groups of patients to rehabilitate them, and the Armed Forces Medical Services were quick to realise this, the statement added. PTI KND RPA
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